


Nothing Broken

by slambage



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, hopefully at least a little funny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12888228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slambage/pseuds/slambage
Summary: Aubrey and Chloe open a club called 'Bellas' and Aubrey is less than impressed with the bunch of misfits they end up employing - least of all the rude, yet surprisingly talented, DJ Chloe insists will be perfect.





	1. Chapter 1

"This is a travesty," Chloe sighed heavily, flapping her arms around near Aubrey's head.

"Just turn the dramatics down a notch ok?" Aubrey huffed in reply, brushing her fringe out of her eyes and scrolling down the page in a manner Chloe thought to be rather fierce. "You know I can't concentrate when you're dancing around like that. Besides, I'm confident that we'll find a set of super tough bouncers, a couple of hot waitresses with bikini-ready bodies _and_ an undiscovered DJ with the skills to be performing worldwide."

"It's those impossible standards that got us into this hot mess," Chloe began to grumble, but quickly tried to get her tone back under control and flopped into the chair next to her best friend. "If we hire the best of the best we'll be broke before opening night. Why don't we just-" she hesitated slightly, knowing the danger of expressing her opinion, especially when it opposed Aubrey's. "Get people willing to work?"

"Chloe I don't want a bunch of misfits working for me, my father-"

"Oh look!" Chloe exclaimed, reaching over Aubrey and clicking an ad she'd spotted. "Fat Amy, straight of college and looking for work as a bouncer. I bet she wouldn't cost much!"

"I imagined more of a...man," Aubrey sniffed. "A strong man with large muscles and-"

"Oh, Bree you just need to be more open minded. At least she's not as scary looking as the other ones we've seen."

"They're meant to be scary," Aubrey whined. "And look, she's listed her skills as 'bikini car washes, pizza eating and mermaid dancing.'"

"Great, she'll keep the peace _and_ entertain everyone!" Chloe replied cheerily. "Plus she says she's the best bouncer in Tasmania, um, with teeth."

"Fine, I give in," Aubrey relented with a drawn out sigh and was rewarded with a bright smile from Chloe. She returned it with significantly less enthusiasm as Chloe noted Fat Amy's contact details on the pad of paper next to her and Aubrey clicked to return to the previous page, still in the hunt for more bouncers.

Two hours and several tantrums later, Aubrey and Chloe had chosen two other bouncers to send interview offers to. Aubrey was about as impressed with their second two choices as she was with Fat Amy. First of all, she didn't approve of Lilly's criminal record ("She'll probably kill us all!" "I'm sure she's learnt from her mistakes Aubrey, don't stress.") and her opinion of Cynthia Rose had quickly soured once she read her name and discovered she wasn't the male her picture had led them to believe. ("She's deceiving us already, who knows what else she'll get up to, she looks like bad news." "Just give her a chance Aubrey, I'm sure she doesn't want people to think she's a dude.")

Chloe stood up from her seat next to Aubrey and stretched happily. "One job down!"

"And only about 300 more to go," Aubrey groaned. "Have you got the applications for the waitresses?"

"Oh yeah I put them over here." Chloe scrambled over to the table against the wall behind them and gathered a stack of papers, placing four of them down next to Aubrey.

"I thought these four looked the best." She smiled.

"What would I do without you?" Aubrey smiled in appreciation as she flicked through the papers. "They all look fine; Jessica, Denise, Ashley and - oh."

"What's wrong?" Chloe's eyebrows furrowed at the look of disapproval on Aubrey's face.

"This girl Stacie has written 'enthusiasm and sex' under 'skills'.

Chloe stifled a giggle at the way Aubrey's eyebrow twitched as she read the word 'sex'.

"Maybe she's just really enthusiastic about sex."

"I can't see that being of need to us in any way," Aubrey sniffed.

"Well I'm not so sure..." Chloe trailed off with a mischievous grin.

"Filthy." Aubrey frowned and shook her head. "Not all of us are as open as you."

"Open?"

"Whatever it is you call yourself."

"Bisexual, Aubrey."

"Yes, well, either way." Aubrey got up and strode towards the kitchen. "I'm under enough pressure already without hiring a girl with morals like that. You know my father always says if at first you don't-"

"I know Aubrey, I'm sure we'll be fine. We still need to find a DJ though remember? There was that site I thought we could find one on."

"I-yes I remember - just," Aubrey hesitated, looking back and forth between the computer and the kitchen. "Ok fine but I'm just going to make a sandwich. It's 12.30 and we've been working since 8."

Chloe nodded and smiled kindly and Aubrey gave a little nod back, as though reassuring herself it was alright to take a small break.

It was hard for Chloe to see Aubrey like this; she could become another person altogether when she was under stress. It was difficult at times to remember her best friend was still there under the frazzled exterior. This episode in particular had begun when Aubrey's father had started laying the pressure on Aubrey to find a high paying job; which was basically the day they finished college. Chloe remembered the day they'd graduated only a few weeks ago and Aubrey, all giggly with excitement, had dragged her over to speak to her parents.

_"Miss Beale." The tall balding man nodded gruffly, offering a large hand for her to shake._

_"Good evening Mr Posen." Chloe smiled as brightly as she could, despite having always found the man quite intimidating. A quick handshake and several squashed fingers later and Chloe moved onto the small women standing next to Aubrey's father._

_"Hi Sandra." She smiled, a real smile this time._

_"Oh congratulations you two." Mrs Posen gushed, grasping both girls by their forearms and giving them an affectionate pat each. "You've finally done it!"_

_"But now's not the time to relax Sandra, quite the opposite actually." Aubrey's father Roy interjected "Now's when the hard work really begins! These girls have had their heads in the clouds, they won't know what's hit them once they're out in the real world." He turned to Chloe. "I understand you've completed an arts degree? Where exactly are you planning to head with that? It doesn't quite lead you straight into anything does it?"_

_"Oh um," Chloe stuttered, "I was thinking of just weighing up my options for a while, you know, seeing what's out there."_

_"I see," Mr Posen replied, in a tone that conveyed he neither saw nor agreed with Chloe's optimistic outlook. "That is once approach I suppose. Though Aubrey I expect you have everything planned out?"_

_"Honey, be reasonable." Sandra tried to steer the conversation away from the dangerous territory she could see it heading towards. "They've only just finished, they at least need a little time."_

_"Nonsense Sandra." The man easily dismissed his wife. "Aubrey knows the traditions of our family, all highly paid business owners bringing honour and positive attention to the Posen family name. And since Aubrey has no brothers-" He paused for a regretful sigh -"I'm only thankful she isn't in any kind of relationship so that the Posen name will be able to start another million dollar company. What my colleges would think if she was getting married at this age I don't want to even begin to imagine."_

_"Roy," Sandra tried once more to interrupt as Chloe scrunched her nose in confusion, wondering how Mr Posen was somehow condemning Aubrey for getting married at a young age, despite stating ten seconds earlier she wasn't seeing anyone._

_"Enough of this," Mr Posen continued, "I don't have time to discuss you girls' poor decisions."_

_"Don't worry Daddy, I've got an idea already." Aubrey spoke up for the first time._

_"And it better be a jolly good one! Like my own father always said, 'if at first you don't succeed, pack you bags.'" He paused for effect and then spotted someone he knew over near another group of people. "Oh Aubrey isn't that you maths professor Mr Bailey? I must congratulate him on the new textbook he's written. I haven't read one of such high quality since I re-read one of my own." And with that he had walked off, leaving all three women looking rather pleased he had._

_"I've got no ideas!" Aubrey had wailed later that night from where she was sitting with papers skewed all around her, as Chloe pottered around her, throwing the other girl's clothes into boxes that would be moving to the new apartment the two of them were renting._

_"I'm sure you'll be fine Bree, you'll think of something soon. You always do!" She paused her packing to wrap her arms around the taller girls neck and Aubrey relaxed into her, leaning her head back against Chloe's shoulder. "I think I'll make you a coffee, do you want a coffee? I'll make you a coffee."_

_A week later Chloe had been heading out the door of their new apartment on the way to her new job as a waitress when she heard a shriek and she hurried back in worry, expecting to find Aubrey injured on the floor._

_"I've got it!" Aubrey was shouting, grinning and looking slightly mad with a disheveled appearance as she waved her 'notebook of Aubrey's great ideas' in the air._

_"You've got it?" Chloe asked apprehensively, hoping this wasn't like her last few ideas (A company selling hand-knitted beanies, a professional a cappella singing group and a book on how to become a master of you inner stress monster.)_

_"A club!" Aubrey burst out breathlessly, plonking herself down in a chair in front of the kitchen bench. She took a sip of the tea Chloe had prepared for her earlier and leant back against her chair._

_"A club?" Chloe let go of the door handle and stared back at her best friend._

_"A club," Aubrey repeated, her eyes staring forward and far away into a future of fortune and riches. "We'll start it from scratch. We'll get a kick-ass DJ. Everyone will come to see him. All the waitresses will be beautiful and the rooms will be huge and oh my God we'll call it 'Bellas' 'cause that means beautiful and it will all be just perfect." She stopped for breath and patted down a few of her hairs that were attempting to escape her ponytail in all the excitement._

_"Wow ok, just... Aubrey did you say 'we'?"_

_"Of course." Aubrey looked up in surprise. "I'll need someone to be the manager."_

_"I guess so," Chloe agreed, but Aubrey didn't seem satisfied._

_"You don't think it's too farfetched do you? I know it will be a lot of work and no one can just go around starting up clubs all over the place but I just thought..."_

_"No of course not Bree," Chloe replied, shaking her head to pull herself together. "If it's what you want then we'll do it."_

_Aubrey's lips curled into a relieved smile and Chloe crossed the room to give her a quick hug. "I'll talk to you about it after work ok?"_

_"Oh you won't need your job anymore." Aubrey continued to smile brightly, "We're going be rich."_

"This is madness." Aubrey collapsed into the chair Chloe had previously occupied, since Chloe was now in front of the computer and scrolling through the list of prospective DJs. She took a bite from her salad sandwich and watched over Chloe's shoulder for a few minutes as they rejected person after person.

"They've all got so many tattoos," She complained, shuddering as Chloe quickly moved past a man with piercings in almost every hole in his face and earlobes stretched to the point of no return.

"This one doesn't," Chloe suggested, stopping at a picture of a pale, weedy looking boy with thin blonde hair and glasses. A giggle burst past her lips as she read out his chosen stage-name of 'pokemon master'.

"Just keep searching," Aubrey muttered through gritted teeth, evidently not seeing the funny side.

Chloe paused the mouse over a moderately good looking boy with brown hair sprawled over his forehead.

"He'll be too expensive," Aubrey shook her head. "Look, he's already released an album."

"We're almost at the bottom," Chloe warned.

"Maybe try refreshing."

"I don't think there's going to be anyone new in that ti- Oh what about her?" Chloe stopped abruptly and leaned closer to the screen to get a better look at the small picture of a brunette girl with headphones around her neck. The writing to the right of her picture proclaimed her stage name to be 'Pocket Rocket.'

"I may be small but I've still got swag," Chloe giggled as she read out the girl's summary.

"Oh no, she won't do." Aubrey frowned in disapproval. "She looks too alternative."

"Because she's wearing eyeliner?" Chloe rolled her eyes and clicked on the ad. A bigger version of the picture popped up and Chloe couldn't stop herself from smiling at the girl who looked horribly uncomfortable to be having her picture taken. The forced smile on her face was crooked, and somehow ended up looking more like a scowl.

"To experience my swag firsthand just contact me or my super awesome manager Jesse. Who is even cooler than me," Aubrey read out loud and scoffed.

Chloe's eyes slid back up to the picture and to the girl's arm tugging awkwardly at her collar that was obviously bothering her. On her forearm Chloe spotted a grasshopper tattoo and she gasped.

"She's perfect."

"Absolutely no way," Aubrey spoke at the same time and immediately frowned at Chloe. "Wait what? Chloe I am not hiring anyone with an ear spike like that."

"I think it's cool! And I just _know_ she'll be great," Chloe replied without taking her eyes off the screen.

"Um, hello?" Aubrey waved her hand in front of Chloe's face. "Chloe you're making gooey eyes at her."

"I'm not," Chloe replied automatically, distracted. "I don't think she really wrote this summary, it seems too outgoing." She paused and looked over at Aubrey, "What do you think?"

"I - how am I supposed to know?" Aubrey snapped, looking flustered "I've never met the girl and I don't plan on that changing."

A frown formed on Chloe's forehead for the first time since she had laid eyes on the girl. "We have to email her!"

"We most certainly do not," Aubrey replied flatly, standing up. "Email her yourself if it means that much to you. I'm going to bed and I'll find a real DJ for us at a more respectable time of day. Good night."

"Good night," Chloe giggled at the rather formal parting comment from Aubrey, which saw Aubrey's frown deepened before Chloe jumped up and wrapped her in a hug. "And thank you."

Aubrey simply shook her head as she returned the hug and left for the bigger of the two bedrooms in their apartment.

Chloe excitedly slid back into the seat in front of the computer and quickly copied the girl's email address into a new message.

"LOVE the name," Chloe started to type and smiled to herself. DJ Pocket Rocket was going to love her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very old fic of mine that was originally posted on a different site. This is the updated and edited version. 
> 
> Will be updated daily.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're missing the ending," Jesse grumbled, squeezing his arm around Beca, who reluctantly forced her eyes back open.

"Oh the horror," Beca muttered sarcastically as the credits to 'The Breakfast Club' began to roll. "Tell me, did it end the same way as the last 11 times I watched it with you?"

Jesse rolled his eyes in response. "You ma'am, are a lost cause. For the greater good of the world, I have tried to give you a moviecation, and you have the – the, the...arrogance to sleep through my absolute favourite movie. It very well could get better every time, you'd just never know."

"Let's agree to disagree." Beca yawned and wiped at a bit of drool that had somehow found its way onto her friend's shoulder.

"You got anything on for tomorrow?" Jesse asked as he heaved himself up from the couch to eject his prized DVD.

"Nope, chill day for me." Beca smiled in content and pulled her laptop from the floor and onto her lap. "Unless of course I get contacted by some hugely popular club in LA, who are just desperate to find a DJ to play for them, every single night, forever."

"Yeah, good luck with that one buddy," Jesse laughed at Beca whose eyes had glazed over dreamily.

"Hey it could happen, now I've got that ad up and everything."

After Beca had finished college she had strung together a few gigs in a couple of run down venues, but they had eventually become fewer and fewer until the calls had simply stopped coming. Her sole income now came from working as a checkout chick at the local supermarket, which she hated and spent her time playing games such as 'how many tins can I stack on the bananas before the customer starts yelling' to entertain herself. 

Jesse, with who she shared a small apartment, was also having career trouble and had signed up to be an extra on a few films in the hope of breaking into the industry. When he'd been browsing the net one night looking for work he had come across a site where actors or musicians could upload a profile, documenting their past work and skills in the hopes of being discovered by potential employers or managers. After quickly uploading his own page he had promptly declared he was appointing himself Beca's manager, much to Beca's distaste ("Don't I get a say in this?" "No way, I'm your manager, I get to make the decisions loser.") and created a profile for her as well.

"And a damn good ad it is too, all thanks to me." Jesse grinned proudly.

"You called me 'DJ Pocketrocket,'" Beca complained.

"Yeah, brilliant isn't it? I chose between that and 'Fun-size.'"

"Neither of those are even remotely badass," Beca sighed, "You're a horrible manager."

Jesse grinned and pulled a stupid face, waggling his fingers around in some strange dance. "At least I have enthusiasm!"

Beca's eyebrows rose to unnatural heights in response and she stared at Jesse for a long moment.

"You are so weird."

"And that's why you love me," He exclaimed happily and flopped back down on the couch next to her again.

"Keep telling yourself that," Beca quipped as Jesse peered over her shoulder at the laptop that was still starting up. "Anyway, what about you? Got much on tomorrow?"

"I'm seeing a couple of mates during the day, we're helping Benji move out."

"His music school really had taken off then huh? Should have known he'd do well, he's always been so good with kids."

"Well he's basically a kid himself," Jesse agreed, "If I was making half as much money as him at the moment I'd be happy."

"Yeah and maybe if I had some cash I could buy a-fricking-new-laptop." Beca poked the keys of her laptop as hard as she could with each word, which was currently frozen on the password screen. With a few more jabs the screen eventually disappeared and was replaced with her desktop picture - a photo of herself and Jesse at a recent Swanson family gathering. Jesse stood happily with his arm thrown over Beca's shoulder, who was hunched in on herself, sporting a disgruntled expression. Jesse's older sister, Taylor, who had taken the picture, had squealed and declared it the "cutest picture ever!" and even Beca had to admit it pretty perfectly captured their relationship.

Still looking over Beca's shoulder, Jesse smiled and clicked his fingers suddenly.

"That reminds me, Taylor's coming over for dinner tomorrow."

"She is not," Beca gasped, horrified.

"Aww c'mon Bec, she's not that bad."

"Not that bad, are you kidding? It's like she's hell bent on getting us together! Last time we were at your parent's place for thanksgiving she hinted that we'd make a cute couple 37 times!"

"37, really?"

"Well I counted that time she made us hug for the picture as two."

"Fair enough," Jesse chuckled, "I'm sure she'll be better this time."

"I seriously doubt it if the last three years are anything to go by."

"No really, she won't mention it."

"And what gives you that impression?" Beca narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Jesse who was now turning slightly red.

"I just -err - have a feeling."

"'A feeling my ass, Jesse Swanson what are you talking about?"

"Ok ok!" Jesse relented as Beca's voice rose dangerously, "It's just that last time she was here, you were out somewhere, I can't remember where, and I was going to show her a movie, um The Hunger Games actually, cause she never saw it at the cinemas. Idiot." Jesse shook his head. "Anyway, she was sitting on the couch ready and I, um, turned the TV on and one of your...movies was paused."

"One of my movies?" Beca frowned in confusion, "I don't have any movies, there's no point when you own basically every one on the planet."

"One of your 'movies,'" Jesse made quotation marks in the air with his fingers and put emphasis on 'movies,' waggling his eyebrows at the same time. "You know, one of those movies you told me you liked when I first met you..."

"Oh my God," Beca whispered as the realisation hit her and her mouth dropped open. "So she saw..." She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"Embarrassed?" Jesse didn't seem to be able to stop himself from grinning as Beca groaned.

"Mortified is a better word I think."

"Well hey, think of it this way, that's one less person you'll have to come out to."

"Having people accidently find my - " Beca waved her hand vaguely.

"Lesbian porn?" Jesse offered helpfully.

"Is not my preferred way of coming out," She finished bitterly.

"Sure does work though!" Jesse's grin widened.

"I hate you," Beca grumbled, throwing a cushion at him before slumping down on the couch and closing her eyes.

"I've gotta say, I think it's a better method than waiting until someone tries to kiss you and then punching them in the mouth."

"That was one time." A tiny smirk pulled at the corner of Beca's mouth.

"And one time I've never recovered from. That punch broke my heart along with my jaw. You know they say you never really get over your first love."

Beca started to laugh as she remembered the fiasco of the almost kiss. They'd been at a party and Jesse had kissed a girl, before returning to Beca to find her moping around, and assumed it was because she was jealous. With his drunk reasoning Jesse had the bright idea to kiss Beca to make her feel better, resulting in a broken jaw and a bright red Beca squealing that the reason she was upset was because her crush at the time, Natalie, had spent the night making out with some guy. A relieved Jesse had replied with "Thank God, I'm not into you either" and they'd been best friends ever since.

Beca opened one eye to peek at Jesse. "I'm busy being mortified here, stop trying to be funny."

"I'm not trying, I'm succeeding."

"You're an idiot."

"An idiot with _style_ \- Oh hey look at this, someone's contacted you from that website!"

"Hmmm?" Beca's eyes shot back open and she focused on the screen in front of her, which showed three new emails.

"You have a twitter?" Jesse asked, amused.

"Shut up," Beca huffed, hurriedly sitting up and deleting that particular email, along with one from amc theatres that Jesse had kindly signed her up for. "It's just in case I get really famous soon or something."

"Maybe I should do that too, I'm starting to get pretty well known. You know if you look really closely you can see me get hit by a flying fireball in The Avengers."

"I'm surprised you haven't already shown it to me 13 times."

"Oh no, it's not out on DVD yet. When it is we can have a marathon and watch it on repeat for, oh I don't know, maybe a couple of days."

"Yippie." Beca muttered sarcastically.

"They wanted me to go to the premiere actually, but my schedule was just too full."

Beca snorted. "Keep dreaming buddy."

In front of her, Beca's mouse hovered over the email Jesse had pointed out to her in the first place, sent from 'DJs 101, musicians promotion site.' 

The subject read: _Hi from Chloe Beale and Aubrey Posen! We want you! ;)_

"Um, ok." Beca mused and tilted her head to the side slightly, still hovering over the subject apprehensively. "It's probably a prank or something."

"You don't know that, just open it and see what it is."

"No you know what, maybe this wasn't a good idea; I'm sure there are heaps of DJs out there better than me and no one's going to take a gamble on - hey!"

"Now read." Jesse smiled softly, nudging Beca in the side and turning his attention to the email he'd opened. "And stop putting yourself down."

"Im not-" Beca started but stopped as she started to read and her eyebrows knitted together.

_Hi Pocketrocket! LOVE the name!_

"Fricking stupid name," Beca hissed and continued reading.

_My name is Chloe Beale and I'm the manager of a new club being opened up called The Bellas, owned by my bestie Aubrey Posen._

_We're two passionate girls determined to surround ourselves with talented people, committed to bringing success to our new business. We're happy to offer you an interview, as we require an up and coming DJ to play as a regular, in order to draw crowds and grow along with our venue. Anyway, Aubrey told me say that bit. Really, we just want you cause obviously, you're the tits._

(Beca's eyebrows rose impossibly higher at that point.)

_And I've got to say, I really love your tattoo! I've got a bug tattoo as well, it's a ladybug! They totes match! Is yours a grasshopper? When did you get yours done? Mine was last year and it hurt like a bitch, but it was worth it 'cause it's my good luck charm. Aubrey doesn't like tattoos very much, so you should totally be my bug tattoo buddy. Also, I really like your ear spike. Anyways, if you're interested you should defs email us back, or you could ring me. But don't ring Aubrey yet, though I'm sure she'll like you eventually._

_Bye!_

_From Chloe xoxoxoxoxo_

Beca sat back from the computer and frowned.

"That girl needs some serious help."

"She's certainly enthusiastic."

"Yeah enthusiastic, like crazy enthusiastic. Like just crazy. And her friend sounds like a bitch." She paused, "It might be really lame."

"And it might be the best thing you've ever done. Listen, I've got to sleep 'cause I need to be at Benji's by 9, but I'll see you sometime tomorrow ok?" He stood up and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "Make sure you email that girl back, I'm not letting you get out of this one. And hey, you might even be a working girl the next time I see you."

"I have a job," Beca muttered defensively.

"I meant one that's not for losers. Night Pocket Rocket!"

"I am never going to forgive you, "Beca hissed, "It doesn't even make sense."

Jesse simply grinned and left, leaving Beca to slump down in her seat, reluctantly moving her mouse over to 'reply.'


	3. Chapter 3

"For God's sake Chloe, now is not the time!" Aubrey snapped, rattling the keys in her hand threateningly. "I wanted to be out the door ten minutes ago, these bouncers aren't going to interview themselves."

"Ok, ok I'm coming," Chloe muttered, trying to stall for time as the computer booted up.

"It's only been two days, I'm sure the poor girl you're harassing doesn't sit on her emails all day refreshing them like you do. She's going to email you back eventually; you've offered her a job! She won't ignore that."

"Maybe she thought my email was too weird," Chloe worried.

"Then heaven knows what she's going to think of you when she meets you. Now, can we please go? It's the twenty first century, I hope you're aware you can check your emails while I drive."

"Oh, good point," Chloe relented and reluctantly switched off the computer, already turning on her phone with her free hand as she followed Aubrey out the door.

"Where are we holding the interviews anyway?" She asked as she got into the passenger side of Aubrey's car. Despite them each having their own car they usually took Aubrey's, partly because it was a convertible (her 21st birthday present from her parents) and therefore great for hot days, and partly because Aubrey liked driving because it "forces you to concentrate for a period of time, therefore stimulating the mind." According to Aubrey anyway.

"Dad is letting us use one of his office buildings," Aubrey answered. "By the time we're ready to interview the DJs we should have our venue ready to use."

"Right." Chloe nodded vaguely, biting her lip subconsciously as her emails loaded infuriatingly slowly. She held it in the air in an effort to get more reception and considered hanging it out the window but looked back to find a large truck approaching and quickly changed her mind. "This stupid thing doesn't work- Oh my Gosh!"

Chloe's squeal caused Aubrey to swerve dangerously close to the lane with the truck and she swore loudly. "Chloe! What is going on? You're lucky I spend time practicing concentration for moments like this!"

"Sorry!" Chloe giggled at Aubrey's ferocious expression. "But the girl emailed us back!"

"Emailed you back," Aubrey corrected. "And I don't care in the slightest."

Chloe didn't even bother to reply as the message from the girl opened. She squeaked again but received a death glare from Aubrey that clearly said ‘shut up and read the message.’ So she did.

_Hi Chloe Beale,_

_I know that Pocketrocket name is weird, I hate it. Jesse who is my kind of manager made it for me but I want to change it, I just can't think of anything else.  
Thank you for your email and the opportunity, I would love to come to an interview. Although, will Aubrey be there? She sounds kind of messed up._

_Please don't show her this email now that I've said that._

_Yes, my tattoo is a grasshopper. Does that have any relevance to the job? You ask a lot of questions; did you know that?_

_I got it when I was 16, and it didn't hurt. Obviously I'm just a lot tougher than you. About being bug tattoo buddies, I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of commitment, can you outline exactly what that would involve?_

_By the way, I can't ring you because you didn't give me your number._

_Thanks for saying you like my ear spike, you're the first person I've met that has.  
Ps. If you're on drugs, you should really stop. I quit, and so can you._

"We're here," Aubrey announced as she pulled up the car outside 'Posen Enterprises.' "What does the alt girl have to say for herself?"

"Don't call her that." Chloe frowned. "She didn't say much, just that she'd love to come to an interview. And she answered my questions about her tattoo."

"Does that have any relevance to the job?" Aubrey asked as the girls walked inside.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Chloe huffed. "I was just asking because I was interested."

"Well you better tone done your interest quick smart, we might not even be hiring this girl yet. If it was up to me she wouldn't even be getting an interview."

"If it was up to you we'd have hired David Guetta and be living out on the street right now so we could afford to pay for him," Chloe clutched her clipboard tighter to her chest and hurried to catch up to Aubrey who was striding away.

"At least David Guetta doesn't wear those ear monstrosities," Aubrey hissed as Chloe caught up, before flashing her most professional smile at the woman behind the counter and announcing they had a booking to use room 34.

"Name?" The woman asked, flicking her eyes up at the two girls briefly and sliding her finger down a list in front of her.

"Aubrey Posen," Aubrey stated proudly, giving her hair a little shake.

"Oh really?" The woman looked up in surprise and studied the two properly for the first time. "Ok, your room is just down the corridor, third door on the left. Do you need me to send the interviewees in?"

"No that’s fine thank you, that's what Chloe is here for." Aubrey accepted the key from the woman with a radiant smile and strode off down the hall.

"What's the big rush?" Chloe grumbled, already sick of having her toes crushed by her heels.

"This is nothing short of embarrassing," Aubrey zoomed towards their room at a blistering pace, her professional manner abandoned the moment they stepped into the corridor.  
"Did you not see the girls sitting in that room back there? I can't believe they got here before us, and now we have to rush. That annoying alt girl is messing me up already. Besides, doesn't she have a name?"

"I'm sure she does, but I don't know it," Chloe replied as Aubrey pushed open the door to their interview room.

"Oh good lord it's not even set up," Aubrey's breathing sped up as she anxiously surveyed the room. "The interviews are meant to start in twenty minutes."

"Don't panic Bree, everything's going to be fine." Chloe placed a reassuring hand on her friend's arm, "How about you set up and I'll go and check who's here?"

"Yes, good idea," Aubrey agreed exhaling slowly and Chloe smiled and quickly slipped out into the corridor. She pulled out her phone as she leant back against the wall and typed a quick email.

_Hey, it's me again. I don't have time to email you right now, could I have your number?_

She typed out her own number stashed her phone back into her pocket before she could overthink what she was doing.

In the lobby she found all three girls, each apparently with their own method of dealing with their nerves. An Asian girl with a fringe almost covering her eyes was sitting in the far corner of the room, mumbling to herself as she studied each person that walked by. A woman Chloe thought looked kind of gangsterish was on her phone and, judging by the reflection from the window, looking at pictures of semi-naked women. The third woman, who was large and blonde, had her foot up on the windowsill and was trying her best to touch her toes.

"Boy, it sure is hot in here," The blonde exclaimed suddenly, turning around to shoot the woman behind the counter a look. "Not naming any names, but sheesh some people are trying to warm up, there's gonna be some serious business going down and now isn't the time to pull a muscle.” She pressed further forward into her stretch. “I can see some other people that should be following my lead actually." She looked expectantly at the gangster girl next to her who frowned and covered her phone.

"Um, Amy?" Chloe called out, struggling not to giggle as the girl jumped back from the windowsill and yelped, grabbing at her hamstring.

"Yes sir! Fat Amy reporting for business! Just, ah, pulled a hammy I think, but wow am I ready to go. Been waiting for this moment since I was born, and here it is. Ok, no pressure. Whole of Australia counting on me, keep it together Amy."

With that the woman attempted to stride confidently towards Chloe, but hadn’t taken two steps before she yelped and clutched her hamstring as it twinged, so instead adopted a kind of sideways hop to reach Chloe.

"Oh, actually I was just going to tell you what time your interview is-." Chloe tried to stop Amy, but it was too late, she was already hopping down the corridor, yelling out "The last time I was this hot I was stranded in the Australian desert with only a kangaroo for company!" At the unfortunate woman at the desk as she passed her.

"You ladies will be in soon," Chloe promised the remaining two girls before hurrying after Fat Amy.

Her pocket buzzed just as she shut the door after Amy. She stole a glance at her phone quickly and smiled at the message from an unknown number.

_If I give you my number, how do I know you're not going to stalk and kill me?_

She slid her phone back into her pocket and grimaced at the look of shock on Aubrey's face at having her interviews start ten minutes early.

"Aubrey, this is Amy, she's ready for her interview," Chloe explained, mouthing ‘sorry’ from behind Amy.

"Amy, hi!" Aubrey quickly recovered and stood up from behind the table she had set up, holding her hand out for Amy to shake. "I'm Aubrey, the owner of Bellas."

"Wassup Albury," Amy replied, slapping a high-five to Aubrey's outstretched hand. "I've never met anyone named after an Australia town before, you must feel special."

"Excuse me?"

"Ya know, Albury-Wodonga? Nice place in New South Wales. Got a great pizza shop on the corner of the main road. Me and my family went on holiday there once when we were a bit sick of Tasmania, there's only so much you can do in Tassie right?"

"Right." Aubrey nodded, doing her best to keep her smile. "I'll be sure to visit there one day."

"I've gotta say," Amy continued, "I expected there to be a few people for me to bash up or something, I've been working on my round house kick all week. I can still demonstrate for you if you want, even though you obviously didn't come prepared."

"Oh no that's ok," Aubrey quickly interrupted Amy, who was hitching up her skirt in preparation for the kick. "We're just going to ask you a couple of questions, maybe you could show us that sometime later, um, outside."

"Good thinking," Amy agreed and took a seat across from Aubrey, while Chloe slid into her own seat on the other side. "I was trying out a few in the waiting area and accidently kicked a pot plant into the TV. Luckily they were only showing some fitness show anyway."

"So, Amy," Chloe cut in, covering for Aubrey who looked about ready to pull her hair out. "What is it that made you want to be a bouncer?"

"Oh well you know," The woman patted her stomach affectionately, "I'm already pretty bouncy."

________________________________________

"We're doomed," Aubrey proclaimed as she collapsed onto the couch that night.

"I don't think so." Chloe smiled and settled herself next to her. "We've officially hired 3 bouncers and contacted the waitresses so we're almost there! I think it's going to be awesome."

"We better get our shit together before opening night," Aubrey sighed.

Chloe turned her attention back to her phone, sliding her apps back and forth with her thumb as she waited for a text to come through. Between interviews she'd managed to text the prospective DJ -

_If I killed you, who would be my bug tattoo buddy? Also, are you always this sarcastic?_

Maybe she was being too forward, Chloe worried as her phone screen darkened to power saving mode and she automatically switched it back on. She'd probably scared the girl off already and then she wouldn't come to the interviews and then Aubrey would be all smug and-

Chloe's phone vibrated and she eagerly opened the message.

_I'm pretty sure we never agreed on the terms and conditions of this bug tattoo buddy thing. And sarcasm is my middle name._

Chloe grinned and quickly tapped out a response.

_There are no terms and conditions, it just means you're now as awesome as me! :) If sarcasm is your middle name then what's your first?_

_Well then I'm honoured. And wouldn't you like to know_

_Yes I would!_

_It's Beca_

_Beca what? :)_

_Now you're really getting stalkerish_

_Becaaaaaaa, I told you mine_

_but I never asked for yours_

_Oh yeah_

There was a pause for a few minutes and Chloe chewed on her bottom lip, wondering if there was going to be a reply.

_Beca Mitchell._

Chloe smiled and repeated the name out loud, testing the words on her tongue.

"Beca Mitchell."

"Huh?" Came the tired response from next to her where Aubrey was drifting off to sleep.

"Oh don't worry Bree, it was just something on the TV. Shouldn't you get some sleep?"

"I will soon," Aubrey muttered softly, her eyes already closed again.

_Did you really do drugs Beca Mitchell?_

_...I may have made that up to sound badass_

_Oh. Did your tattoo really not hurt?_

_I possibly also exaggerated that one, anymore questions?_

_Just one - is Jesse your boyfriend?_

_ha. he wishes._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have put this at the start - this is set in 2012; hence the use of older phones/technology, etc.

A few days after she received her first text from Chloe, Beca was lying on the couch and staring intensely at the clock, trying to slow down the larger hand so she wouldn't have to go to work. She was just wondering how guilty she would feel if she called in sick (probably not very) when her old nokia vibrated loudly on the table next to her and she jumped. 

Quickly picking it up, she jabbed at the keys tying to unlock it and sighed when the screen froze halfway between her background and her messages folder. The problem with buying so much software and equipment for her DJ work was that it left very little money for anything else. Besides, it wasn't like she needed an upgrade on her barely functioning phone when the only people who ever contacted her were Jesse, her Dad or work.

Well, until now.

 _[From: Beale, Chloe]_ The phone finally showed and Beca's face lit up as she immediately pressed 'open' and sat up.

 _"Can I text you?"_ The woman had sent and Beca laughed, a little confused. 

Before typing her reply she looked back at the clock she'd been watching previously and waited for the smallest hand to complete a full circle, not wanting to appear too eager. 

Not that she was, she reminded herself. She was just enjoying having someone to talk to, it was something different.

 _"Judging from the last 30 messages on my phone it would seem that you already have."_ Beca sent back, smirking slightly.

_"No I mean like, is it weird?"_

_"Thousands of people around the world are texting right now, I'm pretty sure it's a perfectly normal form of human communication."_

_"Ha ha. But really, Aubrey says it's strange."_

_"I feel like I'm going to have some problems with this Aubrey girl when I meet her"_

_"You better not, she's your future boss! Aubrey's fine once you get to know her; her parents just forgot to take her out of the shrink-wrap."_

_"I don't know what that means...and I don't even know if I'm going to get the job."_

_"Oh you'll get the job. I listened to the original stuff you put up on that website – the tracks are amazing! I've already put all of them on my phone, I'm going to play them to Aubrey later today."_

Beca groaned, blushing madly. She was actually kind of flattered, but there was no way she was going to admit that. 

She was still trying to think of a reply when her phone started ringing and she groaned again when she saw who it was. Deciding it wouldn't hurt to ignore it the first time she let it ring out and quickly replied to Chloe.

_"Sorry I have to go, my dad's calling!"_

She punched her Dad's number into her phone and sighed when he picked up on the first ring.

"Hello? Beca?"

"Hi Dad." Beca's tone changed automatically to the monotone one she saved for her father. It wasn't that she didn't like him, she loved him, of course she did. It was just that things would never be the same after the divorce. He didn't understand why she rebelled as she did when she was a teenager, he didn't understand why she shut herself out from everything, and he definitely didn't understand the tattoos. Needless to say, he didn't understand her dream of becoming a DJ either.

"There you are! I thought you must have been out." He chuckled, apparently amused by his little joke.

"No, I just couldn't get to the phone."

"I see. So, how are you? What are you doing with yourself? How are all your friends?" He chuckled again and Beca rolled her eyes.

"Very funny, Jesse is fine. He says he's on the verge of his big break, but I doubt it. I'm fine, same old."

"Still working at that supermarket?"

"Sure am."

"Really Beca? Don't you feel like getting out there, seeing the world? You spend all your time holed up in that tiny apartment."

"I like being holed up here Dad, it's where I make my music. And by the way, I have been getting myself out there, I've got a job interview coming up soon."

"An interview? Why didn't you say before?"

"It's for a DJ job at a new club opening up. I really think I have a good chance Dad."

There was silence from the phone and Beca waited nervously.

"Beca you know DJ-ing isn't a profession, it's a hobby," Her Dad said finally. "You're never going to have a steady income with something -"

Beca frowned and angrily kicked away one of Jesse's DVDs that was near her foot.

"Actually you know what Dad I can't talk right now, the um, kitchen is on fire. So I gotta go."

She hovered her finger over the red button, waiting for an apology.

"Beca don't be like that," Her Dad's voice plead faintly and she pressed the red button roughly, chucking it down on the couch. She flopped down next to it and swore loudly as it immediately buzzed again.

"Leave me alone," She grumbled and reached to press the reject button, only to find it had already stopped vibrating.

"What the-" Beca muttered as she picked it up and felt all the anger drain out of her as she realised it wasn't a call but a text, and from the one person Beca didn't seem to mind continually invading her life.

_"Are you done? Aubrey says I should ring you to organise the interview for tomorrow at 12."_

"Oh shit." Beca panicked and jumped up from the coach, texting back frantically. 

Talking on the phone really wasn't her strong point; she had always found that sarcasm didn't work well over the phone when the other person couldn't see her face, and without her sarcasm she was lost. Besides, she wasn't a people person anyway and for some reason the thought of speaking to Chloe in particular made it all the more terrifying.

 _"Is that really necessary?"_ She sent back desperately and then groaned as she read it, thinking it sounded a bit rude. _"It's just I'm not the best at talking on the phone I mean tomorrow is fine I don't think there needs to be any ringing done."_ Beca clicked send right as her phone started blaring her ringtone of Titanium.

"Crap, crap, crap," She muttered to herself and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make the phone stop ringing. Unfortunately it didn't, and she relented with a sigh, carefully pressing the answer button.

"Hello?" Beca's voice came out unnaturally high and she started coughing in an effort to return it to normal.

"Hi! Beca? It's Chloe." The voice that came through the phone sounded exactly like Beca imagined it would; bubbly, sweet and completely at ease.

"Oh yes, good thank you, I mean no wait um, yes I know it's you. I'm me."

A soft giggle came from the phone and Beca felt her knees go weak and decided right then that Chloe's was the best laugh she'd ever heard.

"You sounded a lot more confident in your texts," Chloe teased.

"Well your voice didn't sound this pretty when I was texting you," Beca replied and immediately cursed herself. Where the hell did that come from?

"Aww, you're sweet."

Beca's face twisted into some strange contortion as way too many emotions tried to show themselves at once.

"Oh my God, what is happening to me," She found herself whispering, dragging her hands through her hair while spinning in a circle in the middle of the room.

"What did you say?"

"Oh no I wasn't - Oh shit." Beca stopped spinning and made a desperate grab for her phone that had slipped from her grasp and clattered to the floor. In her haste to pick it up she knocked it further and it flew under one of Jesse's large speakers he had set up next to the flat screen TV.

"The world is against me," She muttered as she dropped to her stomach and upturned the speaker in her frustration, luckily finding her phone unharmed.

"Beca, are you there?" Chloe was saying as she put the nokia to her ear again.

"Sorry, yes I'm here I just, ah, dropped my phone."

There was that laugh again, and this time Beca really did have to sit down, closing her eyes and pushing the heel of her palm into her forehead, trying to force herself to concentrate.

"Why exactly did you call again?"

"To organise the interview! Are you sure you're ok? You sound kind of funny."

"No, no I'm good it's just um..." She desperately glanced around the silent and unmoving room for inspiration. "There's a lot going on here."

"Oh I totally get that, Aubrey's here trying to cook us lunch and it's a disaster," Chloe's voice dropped to an amused whisper. "She's never cooked chicken before, can you believe that? I'm trying to teach her, it's hilarious."

Beca could believe that quite easily actually, since the closest she herself had come to cooking chicken was reheating nuggets in the microwave. 

"Wow," Beca found herself laughing.

"Beca?" Chloe sounded like she was smiling.

"Yeah?"

"You don't cook do you?"

"...How did you know that?"

"Just a hunch." Chloe laughed. "Don't tell me I'm going to have to teach you as well."

"Well um maybe, if you wanted to, I wouldn't mind," Beca stuttered.

"I'll look forward to it then! So, we were thinking of having the interviews tomorrow, could you make it?"

"Oh sure I could make that, I'm not doing anything," Beca answered immideatly. "I mean... just tomorrow...I do do things sometimes, I'm not a complete loser."

"That's debatable," The loud voice of Jesse interrupted as he walked in the front door and dropped his keys on the table, "You're not talking to the TV again are you Bec? I told you only crazy people do that."

He looked up and found Beca glaring at him, waving her hands wildly and pointing at her phone.

"Oh." Jesse's eyes widened as he realised what was going on, and he raised his voice, grinning "Oh! So you finally got the guts to ring your lady love huh?"

Beca threw her hands up in frustration and flipped him off.

"Who's that?" Chloe's voice drifted out of the phone.

"Oh that's um, just Jesse, he's no one really. He was just leaving actually."

'Leave!' Beca mouthed frantically, gesturing towards the door with her free arm.

"But I just got home," Jesse complained.

"Maybe now isn't a good time," Interrupted Chloe just as Beca was sliding her hand back and forth across her throat, indicating to Jesse that she was going to kill him straight after the phone call.

"No seriously it's fine," Beca reassured her, "Now is a great time, couldn't be better."

"Don't you have work?" Jesse pointed out. "I thought you started at three? It's quarter past."

"No I do not have work," Beca hissed back. "I'm sick!"

"You're sick?" Chloe asked.

Beca collapsed backwards onto the couch in defeat. "It's no big deal, just a 24 hour flu I think."

"That's no good, I hope you feel better soon!" Chloe sounded concerned. "Chicken soup always helps me when I'm sick, I can send you the recipe if you like. It's super easy, I could talk you through it."

"Thanks, but I'm sure I'll be fine," Beca replied with a twinge of guilt while glaring at Jesse who was doubled over with laughter. "Tomorrow for the interview sounds great, I'll see you then ok?"

"Right!" Chloe's voice instantly perked up, "I'll see you then Beca Mitchell!"


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Chloe woke up with her head pounding, her muscles as sore as if she had just finished a marathon.

"Aubrey!" Chloe called, coughing and spluttering as she did so.

Aubrey's head immediately popped through the door, concern written over her face.

"I think I'm sick," Chloe murmured pathetically, her sheets pulled all the way up to her chin.

"Oh Chlo," Aubrey cooed. "You don't think it's from the chicken I cooked yesterday do you? I really thought it was cooked all the way through."

"No it's not that, I'm not that bad," Chloe assured her. "I think I've got the flu."

Suddenly her eyes bludged and she sat up. "Oh my God! Beca had the flu yesterday as well! I must have caught it from her!"

Aubrey let out an exasperated sigh. "You caught the flu from someone you haven't met?"

Hysterical giggling was the only response she received and it sent her hastily retreating from the room, calling over her shoulder, "I think it's already affecting your sanity, I'm going to find the thermometer! Shall I make you a tea?"

"Yes please," Chloe called back gratefully as she calmed down. "And can you bring me my laptop and phone?"

A few minutes later Aubrey bustled back in with her arms laden full of everything Chloe had requested.

"Right, open up," She ordered, plopping herself down next to Chloe, who opened her mouth obediently. Aubrey popped the thermometer in and dropped the laptop and mobile onto the bed.

"Anything else you need hun?"

"Uh uh." Chloe shook her head as Aubrey placed the warm tea on Chloe's bedside table. A beeping noise sounded from the thermometer and she pulled it out and to find that sure enough Chloe's temperature was way above where it should be.

"Right, bed for you today," Aubrey announced, giving Chloe a little pat on the leg as she stood up.

Chloe nodded feebly and snuggled back down into her blankets. A day in bed would probably do her a world of good, and not just because of her flu. Ever since they had started work on their new business there had barely been any time to relax and she couldn't even remember the last time she had sat down to just chill and read a book or watch a movie. Although that was maybe partly because she seemed to spend every waking moment talking to-

"AUBREY!" Chloe shrieked, causing Aubrey to jump in fright and clutch at her heart.

"How many times do I have to say not to shout?"

"The interviews are today!" Chloe ignored Aubrey and blurted out so quickly the words were almost unintelligible. A huge surge of disappointment hit her; she had been so looking forward to finally meeting the quirky little DJ she had come to learn so much about. Now she wouldn't be able to watch Aubrey and Beca glare at each other the entire interview, or help convince Aubrey that Beca was the right person for the job.

Aubrey's face fell as Chloe's words sunk in.

"You mean I have to deal with everything by myself?" Aubrey looked positively devastated.

The early warning signs of an infamous Aubrey meltdown began to show as Aubrey's breathing picked up, her forehead creased and her hair somehow became instantly frazzled.

"I'm sure you'll be fine Bree," Chloe soothed quickly. "All you have to do is ask them a couple of questions and listen to their mixes. Just...exert your authority, you're good at that."

"Ok," Aubrey nodded rapidly. "Ok I can do that."

"Ok." Chloe smiled reassuringly. "Look I've got something to show you before you go."

Aubrey moved closer curiously as Chloe booted up her laptop and opened the page she had saved earlier. She'd been checking Beca's DJ profile again (she found herself pulling up Beca's picture whenever she spoke to her) and noticed the she'd uploaded a few of her own songs. Two were remixes of current songs, one was a mash up and there was an original song with herself singing. 

Chloe liked that one best.

"These are Beca's songs," Chloe explained quickly and clicked on the mash up before Aubrey could lose interest once she realised what Chloe was showing her.

"Why-" Aubrey started to interrupt but Chloe shut her up with her very best puppy eyes look.

By the time the song was half through it was obvious Aubrey was sold. She was still trying her best to look disinterested but the mash up melded the two songs together so seamlessly it was amazing, creating a sound even more awesome than the stand alone songs.

"It's alright," Aubrey admitted tentatively when the song had finished, but before she could move Chloe quickly opened up Beca's original song 'Seeing You.'

A heavy bass started and remained steady over the other instruments as Beca's voice began to sing.

"This is her?" Aubrey checked, and her eyebrows rose in apparent approval when Chloe nodded.

"Ok it's good," She relented as the song faded out and Chloe beamed at her. "But I haven't heard the other candidates yet and they could very well be better. Speaking of which, I need to get ready to go, do you need anything else?"

"No I'm fine thanks." Chloe smiled and Aubrey nodded and bustled out of the room.

From the screen Beca's eyes still stared awkwardly out at her, silently begging Chloe to succumb to the temptation of hearing her voice again. She felt slightly guiltily, as Beca was probably busy getting ready, but still Chloe picked up her phone and pressed on Beca's picture that she'd sent from her laptop to her mobile yesterday.

"Hey you, ready for your big day?" Chloe smiled when Beca answered after only a few rings.

"Oh, hi Chloe," Beca sounded distracted and slightly disgruntled. "I would be, but Jesse keeps ordering me around. He's already made me take out my ear spike and now he's trying to get me into this suit thing."

"A suit? Someone's making an effort."

"Not my decision." Beca huffed. Her voice wavered with nerves. "I'm just worried that I've bitten off more than I can chew. I've never done anything like this before."

"Beca you'll be fine! Just be yourself and Aubrey will love you."

"People don't like me though, that's the whole point! I'm not exactly a likeable person."

"Jesse likes you," Chloe pointed out.

"That doesn't count, he likes everyone."

"Wait, he is your boyfriend right?"

Beca laughed and a tiny bubble of hope filled Chloe's chest.

"No way, I don't even swing that way. Oh my God I don't know why I told you that um I think the stress is eating my brain-"

But Chloe wasn't listening anymore as she tried to process the new information she had just received. Jesse wasn't Beca's boyfriend as Chloe had just assumed since they lived together. Not would be, because she wasn't even into guys.

"Get off the phone loser! We're meant to be leaving in twenty!" Jesse yelled from somewhere in the background. "And tell your girlfriend to get ready herself!"

For once Chloe was glad Beca couldn't see her, as her face lit up to match the colour of her hair. Through phone she heard a loud crash and what sounded like pained swearwords coming from Jesse.

"Um, Beca? Jesse's right, I should let you get ready. I actually just called to say good luck."

"Chloe you're the one interviewing me!"

"Well, I was..." Chloe drew out the last word.

"But?"

"But I woke up sick with the flu. I think I caught it from you."

"You caught the flu from me through the phone?" Beca sounded amused.

"Maybe..." Chloe drew out the word again, teasing now.

"Well in that case I'm very sorry. I would offer you chicken soup but as you've already kindly pointed out, I can't cook." Chloe laughed and Beca continued as a thought struck her. "Wait, if you're not going to be there that means I'll be being interrogated by your scary-ass friend!"

"I told you already it's your fault."

Beca huffed loudly. "You're going to pay for this Beale."

Suddenly there was another shout from the background and Beca must have covered the phone to yell back because Chloe couldn't quite make out what she was saying.

"Ok Jesse's getting worried we're going to be fifty nine minutes early instead of an hour, so I better go."

"Ok," Chloe chirped, noticing for the first time that she had somehow managed to twist her sheets all the way around her free arm. "Good luck, you'll be fine!"

"Thanks," Beca replied nervously and cut off the call.

Chloe smiled as she stretched and set the phone down, happy that Beca was slowly becoming more relaxed with her. She pulled open her laptop and chose a movie to watch, content to relax for the rest of the day until Aubrey returned.

 

Hours later Chloe hovered her hand over her phone, trying to decide whether or not to text Beca about the interview. She desperately wanted to find out if Aubrey had swallowed her pride and chosen to hire Beca, but swallowing her pride was not something naturally to Aubrey. And if Beca had been rejected then they would be in for an awkward conversation.

Luckily right at that moment she heard the door of the apartment open and seconds later Aubrey walked into her room, looking as though she might fall asleep on the spot.

"That was an ordeal," Her friend sighed dramatically and flopped down on the bed next to Chloe. "No one had any manners at all! None of their original songs were any good either; they'd all just stuck a beat in the background of current pop songs. One guy had written his own and done the rapping to it, and it was like he'd thought of as many swear words as his puny brain could come up with and then written them all down. It was horrible. And to top it off two of them tried to come on to me."

"For serious?" Chloe gasped. "What did you do?" 

"Well I slapped the first one-"

"You slapped him?" Chloe screeched, torn between amused and horrified.

"Of course I slapped him," Aubrey sounded offended. "What would you have done?"

"I don't know," Chloe started to giggle and dissolved into a small coughing fit, "I can just picture it."

"Yes well he left rather quickly after that so I assume he got the message. By the second creep I was already so worked up from all the losers I'd interviewed so I-well-."

Chloe's jaw dropped. "No. You vomited on him?"

"God no, thank heavens. Although his arms were already covered with horrendous tattoos, it probably would have improved them."

"Remind me to never let you go anywhere by yourself again." Chloe laughed. "So if they were all so bad, who'd you pick in the end?"

"Beca." Aubrey sighed and Chloe slapped the bed next to her in excitement.

"You did?"

"Yes I did, and she was rude and her piercings looked even worse up close, not to mention she was pretty much sneering at me the whole time, but..."

"But?" Chloe prompted, grinning.

"I had to admit those songs you played me this morning were-"

"Amazing?"

"Well, quite good yes. Certainly considerably better than anything else I heard today anyway. She's going to have to change her attitude though, and I'm not going to allow her to wear those earrings when she performs."

"But they're part of who she is!" Chloe argued, "We wanted to hire a DJ, not a robot."

"Chloe we have an image we need to create, and everything about that girl goes exactly against what we want!"

"But-"

"Look, I'm her boss, and I'll be the one to decide what she wears."

Chloe sunk back into the covers. Keeping Beca and Aubrey civil with one another was going to be some kind of job.

"She asked about you by the way."

"She did?" Chloe perked up.

"Mmm." Aubrey watched Chloe carefully. "She asked how you were. Obviously I said you were fine, just spending the day in the bed. Then she asked if I'd made you chicken soup and started laughing for some reason. Which, by the way, was the only time she smiled the entire time I was talking to her. Anyway, she told me to give you this."

Aubrey picked up a book from next to her that Chloe hadn't noticed earlier and passed it over to her.

"Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul," Chloe read and looked back at Aubrey with wide eyes, "As in, to keep?"

Aubrey nodded and shrugged. "Something about her getting you sick and not being able to make you chicken soup, so that would have to do. By the way, now that I've met her I don't know how you've managed to have all those conversations with her on the phone. I could barely get a word out of her."

"She remembered that I love animals." Chloe smiled happily as she flipped through the book, finding it filled with short stories written by real people about their pets.

"If that's some subtle hint you still want a puppy, my answer hasn't changed." Aubrey sniffed.

"No really, we were talking about our favourite things and animals came up."

"I see. Well I'm going to ring for takeaway, want anything specific?" Aubrey stood up and headed towards Chloe's door.

"Whatever you want," Chloe replied easily, "What did Beca say when you told her she got the job?"

"I didn't," Aubrey replied flatly, "I told her we'd let her know."

"Aubrey!" Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes, picking up her phone, "I have to text her."

"Of course you do." Came the reply from out in the kitchen area. "I'm ordering Chinese!"

 _"Guess what Beca Amaze Mitchell... you are now officially the Bella's very own DJ!"_

Chloe picked up the book Beca had given her while she waited for a reply, flipping it open again to find something scrawled inside the front cover.

_Sorry for making you sick, maybe this will make you feel better? - Beca_

There was no way she could be any cuter Chloe thought, right before her ringtone of the last two years, Titanium, blared from her mobile.

"I swear that bitch made me think I was no chance," Beca's indignant voice complained.


	6. Chapter 6

If the interview was a big day for Beca then today was huge. Enormous. If the importance of days could be compared to the size of DVD collections, then today was one to rival Jesse's.

Not only was it the first training day for her new job, which meant meeting and interacting with a bunch of new people, but it was also the day she was due to finally meet Chloe. 

That is of course, if no one caught the flu. Or the imaginary flu.

Beca stood in front of the full length mirror in Jesse's room, the only mirror in the apartment aside from the small one above the sink in the bathroom.

"You're nervous," Jesse teased.

"Am not," Beca replied, standing impatiently with her hands on her hips, trying to get Jesse's opinion on the plaid shirt she had on. "What do you think?"

"I think you've got it BAD."

"The shirt Jesse, please."

"Well, drawing on my professional fashion career..." Beca rolled her eyes as Jesse paused for dramatic effect, "I think it looks the same as the last seven you showed me."

"No but this one has short sleeves," Beca insisted. She turned around so her back was shown in the mirror and craned her neck, trying to look at herself. "I think I'm going to try the grey and purple one again."

"I've heard grey and purple plaid is scientifically proven to attract women."

"You have had you?" Beca humoured him as she pulled on the shirt and adjusted it carefully so her bracelets were visible. "Did you learn that in your professional fashion career?"

"Ah yes, yes I did. Purple specifically attracts, ummm, brunettes."

Beca laughed. "I don't even know what colour hair she has anyway."

"Ah hah!" Jesse jumped up, pointing his finger at Beca in accusation. "So you admit you're trying to impress Chloe."

"I do not! You started it anyway."

"And you took the bait! What do you reckon this girl looks like anyway? Confident and flirty, she's got to be a brunette."

"How am I meant to know?" Beca huffed and briefly wondered about changing her jeans.

"But if you to guess," Jesse wheedled.

"Blonde," Beca answered shortly and turned back around to face the boy lounging on the bed. "Definitely blonde. Do you think it looks like I've made too much of an effort?"

Jesse grinned again, "Beca my girl, you have got it so, so bad."

 

Jesse pulled up outside a large building with a neat sign reading 'Bellas' in blue cursive font perched on the top of it.

"Not exactly where I imagined my first big gig as a DJ would be," Beca mused. "It's all so pretty and perfect."

"And then there's you." Jesse grinned. "Now get out of my car, I've got places to go, people to see."

"Thanks for the support," Beca deadpanned.

"What can I say, I'm always here for you Bec." Jesse winked cheekily. "And what time am I picking you up?"

"The text said four."

"The text hey?" Jesse raised his eyes suggestively and Beca sighed. "The text from Chloe by any chance?"

Beca's apparent crush on Chloe (which she swore was a figment of Jesse's overactive imagination) had become Jesse's new favourite topic to tease her about. She'd resorted to desperate measures to avoid his relentless banter, including keeping her phone on silent at all times and announcing she was going for a walk every time her phone rang.

Now Beca simply glowered at Jesse as he raised his hand in a salute and kept a straight face as he told her, "go forth and acquire the target," before tearing off back down the street.

"Idiot," Beca muttered as she turned around and took exactly three steps before she smacked right into a large blonde woman. She was flung backwards and staggered before toppling over and onto her butt.

"Wha-who's there? Who was that? I'm armed!" The woman she had collided with yelled from above her as she spun around.

"Down here." Beca groaned and poked gingerly at her lower back. "Are you going to shoot me?"

"Why would I shoot you?" The woman now seemed confused as she spotted Beca on the ground and leaned down to pull her up.

"You said you were armed..."

"Oh right, nah I was just pointing out that I have arms. It scares people for some reason sometimes, I'm not sure why. Hey, nice headphones! Are you the DJ? I'm Fat Amy, official security of the Bellas, at your service. You must feel privileged; you've already experienced my bouncing talents first hand!"

Beca gaped at the woman who had paused, and wondered how exactly she was meant to reply to any of what Amy (Fat Amy?) had just said.

"Strong and silent type huh?" Amy continued, her voice laced with a thick Australian accent, "What's you name again?"

"I didn't say-uh, it's Beca."

"Beca...chicka chicka aww..." Fat Amy made a strange sound and moved her hand to imitate a DJ. "I could have been a star DJ you know, back in Tassie I was a real up and comer. I just didn't want to risk it."

"Risk what?" Beca asked, confused.

"Arthritis." Amy's eyes were wide and serious. "One out of five DJs are likely to develop wrist arthritis. We had a cat that had it once."

"That sounds serious." Beca raised her eyebrow.

"You think that's serious? Back in Aus I kept rattlesnakes in my room for three weeks. Livin' on the edge man."

Beca nodded slowly and followed Fat Amy, who had apparently decided their conversation was finished and headed through the doors of the large building.

They walked inside and Beca gave an internal shudder as she spotted the tall, blonde form of Aubrey. Her new boss, who was surrounded by a group of nervous but excited looking girls, looked equally displeased to see Beca.

"Beca, Amy I'm glad you're here." Aubrey called out, sounding anything but. "Please come and join the rest of us."

The girls Beca didn't recognise seated themselves in the chairs that were set up on the floor, facing a large portable white board. Aubrey waited next to the board and watched silently as Beca awkwardly sped-walked to an empty chair.

"Right." Aubrey clapped her hands as she surveyed the group in front of her. "As you know, you have all been chosen to work here at Bellas, beginning next week. At the Bellas we will aim to uphold the highest of standards in every aspect of what we do..."

Beca started to zone out as Aubrey prattled on about punishment for incorrect uniform and lateness. It was bothering her that Chloe wasn't here; surely she couldn't still be sick? Besides, Chloe had texted this morning saying she would definitely be there. She had briefly considered that Chloe might be one of the girls sitting around her, but no one had even made any eye contact with her as she walked in. 

Besides, none of the girls looked like Chloe anyway. Beca wasn't sure exactly what it was she was looking for, but they were definitely not it.

"...Manager Chloe will be with us soon-" Beca suddenly tuned back in to Aubrey's babbling. 

"What?" She jumped up, knocking her chair over in the process.

Aubrey frowned at the interruption and several of the girls sent Beca strange looks.

"Please try and keep up Beca." Aubrey sighed, "I was just saying that since we were all here we should all introduce ourselves, maybe give a few interesting facts -"

"You were saying something about Ch-I mean the manager?" Beca butted in again.

Aubrey narrowed her eyes. "Yes, just that we are all here, except for Chloe, the manager, who is out the back doing some paperwork. Now that you're actually paying attention, maybe you'd like to tell us a little about yourself?"

Now it was Beca's turn to frown as Aubrey sat down with a very satisfied smirk on her face, watching Beca expectantly. Interesting facts about herself? She couldn't think of any facts about herself, let alone interesting ones.

"uh okay, right." She started hesitantly. "Well my name's Beca. I'm the DJ here. And uh, I like DJ-ing."

She sat back down quickly and Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"Stacie?"

A tall brunette stood up confidently and smiled widely at them all.

"Hi everyone, my name's Stacie. My hobbies include cuticle care and the e-network."

The girl sat back down again, receiving a smile from Aubrey and Beca glowered. Her introduction had been way more interesting than that. 

Fat Amy stood up next and gave them all a demonstration of pirate dancing, and eventually all the other girls were introduced.

"Right!" Aubrey stood up and clapped her hands together again. "Now we all know each other, I'll show you around. Follow me through here."

Beca stood up with everyone and followed Aubrey through to the main dance floor.

"Damn, this place looks the goods," A girl called Cynthia-Rose announced with an approving nod as she surveyed the huge room.

"Yeah it's not too bad," Amy agreed. "Reminds me of the club back home in Tassie me and some aboriginals ran. We kept it tight. Think we might have scared the kangaroos though."

"The ones in Vegas are better," Beca heard faintly from beside her and turned around to find Lilly staring off into the distance.

Aubrey was ahead and ignored everyone, until she suddenly came to a stop and swung around to face them. 

"So there's the stage obviously, and Beca you'll be up there," Beca followed Aubrey's finger to where she was pointing to a little alcove high in the wall, jutting out over the stage and dance floor.

"No way." Beca breathed.

"Yes way," Aubrey replied with a smirk, though this time it was almost friendly. "There's stairs to the right of the stage to get you up there, why don't you go and set yourself up? I'll send someone up to help you soon."

"Awesome." Beca grinned, unable to contain her excitement despite trying to remain cool in front of Aubrey. 

She turned and nearly bolted to the door, shoving it open to find a narrow spiral staircase. She took the stairs two at a time and reached another door at the top, but this one didn't open when she tried the handle. After a moment of panic she remembered the card she had been given by Aubrey earlier, and tried it in the slot. A light flashed green and she eagerly opened the door.

Beca wasn't one to get excited often, but she couldn't help but gasp when her eyes fell upon the equipment that was all hers to use. The area was tiny; she only had to take a step before she was able to sink into the huge chair provided for her. To her left was a large mac computer screen, on which she discovered all the top DJ software and a folder and usb for all her own music. A few more clicks and she found an enormous list of songs, ranging from everything that was currently on high rotation radio to songs that had been hits years and years ago. In front of her was all her equipment, countless dials and switches that would allow her to do whatever she wanted to the music playing. She also had a microphone, presumably for announcing things, a set of headphones marked 'office', and another set attached to the DJ board. 

She eagerly pulled the plug attached to that set and replaced it with her own that were already around her neck. On the computer a screensaver had started so she wiggled the mouse and brought up the list of songs again. She typed quickly and a second later 'Thrift Shop' was booming through the speakers, pumping loudly through the whole building.

"Awesome," Beca breathed in wonder, until her moment of happiness was interrupted by a screaming Aubrey.

"Beca! Volume control please!"

"Sorry!" She called back, despite having no idea where the girl was. She twisted the volume dial and her eyes fell on the microphone just above it. Her lips curled as she leant towards it. "Sorry Aubrey," She repeated, putting on a deep voice and smirking as the words echoed throughout the room. She could almost hear Aubrey sigh.

Not wanting to push her luck she decided she should probably actually do something with all of the equipment she had at her disposal. That morning she had packed a USB full with her most recent creations, so she plugged it into the computer and double clicked one of her favourites, a mash up of 500 Miles and Titanium. 

The song began to play and Beca slipped her headphones over her ears, pushing with her feet to slide her chair over to examine the various dials at her disposal. She was just experimenting with one particular button that played a high pitched guitar sound when pressed, when there was a sharp yell from behind her and she jumped, her arm falling across the board and almost deafening her with all the sounds that played at once.

"I thought you were meant to be good at this?" The same voice teased from behind her, and a half a second before Beca recognised it she was wrapped in a tight hug.

"Oh my God, Chloe?" She spluttered, hastily blowing a few strands of flaming red hair out of her face. The arms around her loosened and she spun around and staggered upright to come face to face with a beaming red head.

"Hi!" Chloe grinned happily. "Sorry for scaring you Bug."

It took a couple of seconds for Beca to register what Chloe had called her, since she was too busy being distracted by Chloe's face. Her eyes in particular. When she and Jesse had guessed what the mystery woman would look like, they'd never even mentioned her eyes. Eyes weren't usually what Beca remembered about a person; she found the details didn't stick in her head as easily as the colour of their hair or their height. The thing was though, she'd never seen anyone with eyes like Chloe's. You could call them blue and you'd be right, but calling Chloe's eyes blue would be like calling the ocean an area of water, or Mount Everest a rise in the ground. They seemed to sparkle, just the way Chloe's voice always had, and with Chloe's red hair (red!?) they stood out so vibrantly Beca couldn't tear her own eyes away. 

"Did you knock your head or something?" Chloe giggled as Beca stared dumbly at her.

"Uh no, sorry I just didn't expect - I wasn't expecting-" Beca waved her hand vaguely behind her. "I was busy and I didn't expect-"

"Oh I'm so sorry, did I interrupt you when you were caught in your own little world?" Chloe cut her off, saving her from further embarrassment as she struggled to form a sentence. Chloe swept past her and plopped down in front of the equipment. "This stuff is pretty cool! How do you do it?"

Beca took a deep breath and tried to gather her composure, not helped by Chloe who had swiveled around in the chair and was waiting for her.

"Well it's not that simple." Beca tried to explain, and brought up the song on the computer she'd been playing before. "See I just pick songs that go together well and I try to match up down beats and-"

Right at that moment Beca's phone buzzed and the vibration caused it to spin in a tight circle where it was resting on the bench in front of Chloe.

_Update please! Is she smoking hot?_

The messaged flashed on the screen briefly before dimming again and Beca gulped, glancing sideways to see if Chloe had noticed anything. If she had, she was pretending not to notice as she stared intently at the computer.

"I don't really get it." Chloe frowned and Beca breathed a sigh of relief. "Can you play me that song?"

"Oh yeah okay." Beca fiddled with the keyboard and her mash-up resumed, playing quietly.

"Is this as loud as it goes?" Chloe questioned, standing up and leaning over so that her arm brushed against Beca's.

"No there's the volume here but-" Beca tried to explain but Chloe had already reached over and pumped up the volume.

"This is great!" She grinned and Beca blushed. "You really made this?"

Beca nodded, trying desperately to look anywhere but at Chloe, who was right in front of her and seemed to be somehow inching closer.

"Beca!" Aubrey yelled again, and for once Beca was glad to hear her voice. She leaned over the edge of her little alcove and looked down to find Aubrey standing with her hands on her hips next to Cythnthia Rose and Amy.

"Yes?"

"Is this your song?"

"...Yes?"

"Make sure you play it on opening night," Aubrey said and walked off, heading towards the bar.

"It's rockin' homie!" Cynthia-Rose agreed.

"Sounds like one of my own," Fat Amy added.

Beca smiled bashfully and retreated back from the edge.

"Told you your stuff was amazing." Chloe smiled.

"Well uh, hey - I thought Aubrey said she was sending someone up here to help me, how come I got you?" Beca tried to deflect the compliment.

"I may have told a teeny tiny lie and said I knew how to use this stuff. I had to talk to you and thank you for the chicken soup right?"

"Oh yeah, about that, I have to admit something."

"Hmm?" Chloe leaned in again as though Beca was going to whisper a secret to her.

"I didn't get you sick."

Chloe laughed. "You don't say." 

"No, no I mean - I was never sick. I just said I was so-" Beca took a deep breath, trying to keep her words from running over each other. "-So I didn't have to go to work. So I could keep talking to you on the phone."

Chloe's hands were suddenly curled around Beca's forearms, her breath tickling Beca's face as she leaned close. 

"You mean I offered my family's secret chicken soup recipe to a con artist?" 

Beca tried to respond, but nothing came out of her mouth except an uncharacteristically high squeak. Chloe's grip tightened and she gave Beca's arms a quick squeeze before releasing her, a cheeky grin on her face as she began to saunter away back toward the door. 

"Well, I better go test out the bar, this ginger needs her jiggle juice!"

"Wha-" Beca's head was reeling from trying to keep up with Chloe's rapid changes in conversation. "But it's only three o'clock."

"And?" 

Chloe gave a little shimmy before she disappeared down the stairs. 

"...Make good choices."


	7. Chapter 7

"Today's the day!" Chloe chirped as she skipped into the kitchen in her pajamas and slippers. Aubrey was already awake, sitting at the table surrounded by sheets of paper and her laptop, eyes bleary

Aubrey gave a tiny groan in response.

"Today feels like a pancake day, what do you think?"

Aubrey simply nodded, her cheeks sucked in as she flipped over another sheet of paper.

Chloe set to work, setting up the pan and pulling the ingredients from the cupboard.

"What are you working on anyways?" She asked casually.

"What am I working on?" Aubrey's voice rose dangerously. "Oh nothing important, only trying to organise all the critics coming tonight! You know John and Gail are coming?"

"For serious?" Chloe gasped. Everyone knew John and Gail, they ran a blog filled with everything entertainment, from celebrities to artists to movies to clubs. If they didn't like something, neither did anyone else.

"Well like a representative from them anyway." Aubrey waved her hand, "The point is, this thing's getting out of control. All the advertising - it's gone off without a hitch. We're going to be huge."

"Then that's great!" Chloe replied happily.

"But what if something goes wrong?" Aubrey insisted, "What if John and Gail don't like it, or the people find it boring or Beca completely blows her set or Lily murders someone or-"

"Bree relax!" Chloe frowned, "None of that is going to happen. Beca's songs are great; you heard them the other day. And anyway, you know we took extra insurance because of Lilly. Here, have a pancake."

Aubrey accepted the pancake with a tight lipped smile and stared at it for a moment.

"We better have our shit together before tonight."

"I'm not worried," Chloe smiled warmly, sitting down with her own pancake covered in strawberries, "I think we're going to be awesome!"

 

They weren't off to a good start. They officially opened at 9:30, and Aubrey wanted them all there exactly five hours beforehand. It was now two minutes past five, and Beca was no where to be found.

"I told you she wasn't reliable." Aubrey muttered angrily as she strode up and down in front of the other girls. Chloe wrung her hands together nervously. "Half an hour late!" Aubrey continued. "I specifically said lateness was the one thing I couldn't stand. She's doing this to wind me up, I just know it. If that girl isn't here in the next ten minutes I swear I'll-"

"Beca!" Chloe called in relief as the tiny girl burst through the doors.

Beca returned her smile weakly, dropping her bag onto the floor and collapsing onto the closest chair.

"Where have you been!?" Aubrey shrieked, immediately ceasing her pacing and glaring at Beca.

"Jeez, keep your hair on," Beca muttered, raising her eyebrow. Aubrey's face twisted until Chloe was worried that smoke might start pouring from her ears. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. Jesse - my roommate, left this morning for an audition in another state. He took his car, and I can't drive anyway, I had to bus here."

"You can't drive and you're how old?" Aubrey spat.

"What's it to you?" Beca narrowed her eyes, looking offended. "I don't need to, Jesse can take me wherever I need to get."

"Well apparently he couldn't today."

"How was I meant to know he wouldn't be able to today?" Beca grumbled, "It's not every day he gets a callback for a movie this big."

"He's an actor?" Aubrey asked, suddenly interested, and Chloe sighed. Aubrey had a thing for actors; every guy she had ever dated had been working on some kind of movie. Though judging by what she'd heard of Jesse from Beca, Aubrey would be the last person Jesse would be interested in if they ever met.

"He will be if he gets this role." Beca shrugged and Aubrey looked impressed.

"Anyway guys," Chloe cut in, sensing the conversation was getting way off topic. "Why don't we go get in position and have our last run through?"

"Just what I was going to say," Aubrey agreed. "Amy, Cynthia Rose and Lilly, you three stay here, I need to show you the walkie-talkies."

The rest of the girls stood up and Chloe followed suit, jumping up and chasing after Beca, slipping an arm around hers when she caught up.

"Hey Bug." She smiled, while Beca's eyes flashed briefly down to her arm and then back up to her eyes.

"Why do you call me that?" Beca questioned, "I should be calling you a bug, or maybe a leech." She raised her eyes pointedly at their linked arms and Chloe laughed.

"Because you have a bug tattoo like mine! Obviously."

"Oh right, obviously." Beca's voice was flat but her lips twitched into a small smile.

There was a pause while Chloe wondered how they were going to fit up the stairs if they were attached like this, and also why exactly she was following Beca when Aubrey probably needed a million jobs done, when Beca suddenly spoke without being asked a question for the first time and Chloe nearly fell over with shock.

"So, let's see yours then," the smaller girl said, keeping her eyes trained on her feet.

Chloe smiled and pulled her arm back from Beca's, flipping it over and holding it out so the small ladybug just below her palm showed.

"Cool." Beca nodded.

"I know right!" Chloe grinned happily. "What about yours?"

Beca stopped walking and pulled her sleeve up, allowing Chloe to look at her tattoo. Beca's was much larger than hers, and it was further down her forearm. It definitely wasn't cute like her own, but it seemed to suit Beca.

"Matching," Chloe exclaimed happily as she ran her thumb over Beca's outstretched forearm and the smaller girl watched her closely. "Why'd you get yours?"

"Why'd you get yours?" Beca shot back quickly.

"Because it's so cute! Ladybugs are adorable, and this one's my lucky charm."

"Right." Beca nodded.

"So...?"

"So what?"

"Beca." Chloe whined and Beca sighed.

"It doesn't have any meaning, I just got it."

"Well that's not a very interesting story." Chloe frowned, not believing her for a minute. There was no way someone like Beca simply walked into a tattoo parlour and had a grasshopper inked on her skin just because. It was far too easy to tell she wasn't a just because person.

"I'm not a very interesting person." Beca shrugged.

"Of course you are," Chloe dismissed her easily, "I bet you got it when you were, say, sixteen, and you had ... um... a lover! And then there was a terrible break up and you got it to remind you of him. Because he was a grasshopper."

Beca snorted. "Her, not him."

"So I'm right!" Chloe clapped gleefully and Beca rolled her eyes with a tiny smile on her face.

"No you're not right idiot. Why do you care so much?"

"I just wanna know."

"Fine," Beca shifted her weight onto her other foot and averted her eyes from Chloe's. "When I was fifteen, my parents got divorced. I went a bit off the rails. I got the tattoos 'cause I knew it would annoy them."

"The 'tattoos'? There's more?"

"A few," Beca shrugged, looking uncomfortable, "Not in places you can see."

"Yet," Chloe muttered before she could stop herself and Beca's mouth dropped open slightly.

"You're an idiot," she finally stuttered out and Chloe laughed as Beca untangled herself quickly to disappear up the stairs.

By the time Chloe was able to find Aubrey again, Aubrey was a mess. She strode back and forth everywhere, clipboard under her arm, barking instructions at everyone she could find. Chloe hurried off to find a coffee for her friend and when she was back she found her in a panic again, this time yelling "Speak up woman!" into her walkie-talkie.

"Who was that?" Chloe asked softly, handing Aubrey her coffee.

"Lilly," Aubrey sighed heavily and took a sip. "She's a nightmare, honestly! I can't hear a word she says. Not to mention Beca won't even answer hers. I swear, if that girl ruins tonight for us..."

"She won't ruin it," Chloe soothed her, "Everything's going to be perfect."

 

Hours later, after Amy and Cynthia Rose had pushed the last few people out the door and they had found Lily in a back room, deep in conversation with a couple of shifty looking men, Aubrey had been well and truly proven wrong. The club had been packed to capacity and Beca's songs were an immediate hit with the crowd. Countless people had been congratulating them on their huge success all through the night and even Beca had a real smile on her face when she met them all in the foyer.

"You can play!" Chloe teased her when she spotted her.

"I guess it went alright," Beca relented sheepishly with another rare smile.

"Yes, well done Beca," Aubrey interrupted. "We'll have a meeting tomorrow at three to discuss how things went and what we can improve on. The reviews should be out by then too so we can read over them."

Chloe nodded along with Aubrey when suddenly a thought hit her and she turned to Beca, "How are you going to get here tomorrow?"

"Bus again." Beca shrugged.

"Then how are you getting home tonight?"

"Ah...bus?" Beca trailed off sheepishly, already knowing it was a bad idea.

"You can't catch a bus at 2:30 in the morning!" Chloe gasped.

"She probably can, they run night services-" Aubrey started to suggest but Chloe shot her a glare and Aubrey sighed and threw her hands up in frustration. "Fine, I'll meet you in the car."

"What does she mean?" Beca asked as they watched Aubrey stride away.

"We're taking you home!" Chloe clapped her hands in excitement and tucked her arm through Beca's again.

"Oh no, you don't have to do that." Beca frowned, "I don't want to inconvenience you guys."

"It's not a problem silly."

"Try telling Aubrey that."

"Don't take any notice of her," Chloe answered as they turned off the lights to the club, "It's all part of her tough act, I know she's thrilled at how well tonight went."

"Her tough act huh?"

"Yep, bit like someone else I know." Chloe smiled teasingly again and Beca rolled her eyes as they entered Aubrey's car.

"We'll be talking about this later," Aubrey muttered as Chloe smiled innocently and turned the radio on. "Where do you live Beca?"

"Um, down-"

"Actually, I thought she could stay at ours." Chloe interjected.

Aubrey sighed in defeat, and in the rear-view mirror Chloe saw Beca's mouth twitch into a smile.

 

As soon as they reached their apartment Aubrey quickly bade them goodnight and left for her room, shutting the door tightly behind her. The two girls were left in slightly awkward silence as Beca surveyed the room and moved over to pick up 'The Notebook' from the table where Chloe had left it last night.

"This yours?" Beca smirked.

"Yeah, it's cute! Bree and I watch it all the time."

"Now that's sad." Beca shook her head and placed the movie back down, scuffing her feet along the carpet, "hey thanks for letting me stay tonight."

"Anytime." Chloe smiled easily.

"But seriously, you don't even know me. I could secretly be an axe murderer or something."

Chloe raised her eyebrow in amusement at the tiny girl, "I think I'm safe. Follow me, my bedroom's through here."

"Wait what?" Beca called from behind her. "What about the couch? I'm fine with the couch, the couch is good."

"Don't be stupid Bug, the couch is hard and it'll give you a bad back."

"But-"

"No buts," Chloe insisted, "Anyways, sharing a bed is like a guaranteed way to become best friends."

"If you say so," Beca muttered, but she followed Chloe obediently.

Chloe pulled off her shoes and pants quickly and slipped into the bed, not bothering to get changed further, while Beca stood awkwardly at the end of the bed.

"It's very...pink." She mused, motioning vaguely at the pink sheets, pillows and walls.

"I know." Chloe smiled happily, "Are you going to stand there all night?"

"I don't have pyjamas." Beca muttered.

"You can borrow mine," Chloe suggested.

"Are they pink?"

"Maybe..." 

"I think I'll pass." Beca rolled her eyes and pulled her own shoes off. Chloe waited while she slowly slid into her side of the bed, before switching the lamp next to the bed off.

"Tonight was good," she murmured happily.

"Yeah," Beca muttered back, tugging on the sheets as she tried to find a comfortable position. Without a moment of hesitation Chloe shuffled over and draped her arm over the Beca's waist. Under her arm Beca froze.

"What are you doing?"

"Cuddling," Chloe replied softly, "To make you comfy."

"Right," Beca replied gruffly, "Uh, goodnight then."

"Night," Chloe breathed.

 

Chloe's radio blared the next morning and she blearily reached over and fumbled for the snooze button. As she recalled the success of last night a smile spread across her face - until she suddenly remembered there was someone meant to be in bed next to her. Where the tiny form of Beca had drifted off next to her last night was now an empty space, the slightly ruffled sheets the only evidence Chloe hadn't dreamt the whole thing. 

Struggling to keep the panic rising from inside her (had Beca found sharing the bed too awkward? Maybe sharing a bed with your friend wasn't something that came as naturally to her as it did to Chloe), Chloe slipped out of the bed and didn't even bother donning her usual fluffy pink slippers as she hurried out of the room. The rest of the apartment was dark, with the curtains drawn and the only light coming from the crack under the bathroom door. Aubrey's door was still shut, a sure sign she was fast asleep, and Chloe's whole body relaxed as she realised it was Beca in the shower, and she hadn't tried to leave. Just as she opened her mouth to call out to her, there was a loud outburst of noise from back in her bedroom as her radio crackled back into life and she froze on the spot.

"And here we have it, for the first time ever played on national radio - the hot new hit by DJ BAM, fresh to 100.9."

There was barely time for Chloe's jaw to drop before Beca's most recent song - an upbeat mashup of Titanium and 500 miles - was blasted from the radio. In shock, she rushed back into the room and yanked the digital radio from her bedside table, almost tripping over her own feet as turned and ran back to the bathroom door. Without a second thought she pushed the door open and burst into the room, brandishing the radio above her head. She immediately spotted Beca, who was under the water with her back to the door.

"Beca!"

The small girl shrieked in shock and spun around in horror, scrambling for something to cover herself up with as she quickly turned the water off.

"What the hell are you doing?" She squealed, her eyes darting around wildly.

"It's your song!" Chloe smiled widely and pulled the door to the shower open so Beca could hear the radio better. "Can you believe it?"

"Can I...Oh my God, seriously?" Beca tried to shrink away as Chloe held the radio closer, "I'm nude."

Chloe rolled her eyes and ignored the obvious comment.

"Are you listening?" Chloe prodded.

"Dude no! Get out!"

"I can't believe you used Titanium!" Chloe dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned in closer to Beca, "That song is my jam. My lady jam."

"That's nice." Beca grimaced and Chloe nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"It is, that song really builds."

"Gross," Beca muttered into the wall.

The song faded out and Chloe smiled proudly at Beca, who had her eyes squeezed tightly shut. 

Suddenly there was a yell from outside the door. 

"Chloe? Are you in there? Where's Beca gone?"

"I'm in the bathroom with Beca!" Chloe yelled back, "She's just having her shower."

"She's what?!" Aubrey shrieked. "What are you doing in there?"

"I was just playing her her song!" She sighed. Beca peeked back at her and Chloe shook her head in disbelief. "She's crazy that girl, honestly. I better go explain it to her in case she assumes I was doing something weird, you know how she is."

With a final grin at Beca, Chloe flicked her hair over her shoulder and skipped out of the bathroom, finding Aubrey standing in the middle of the kitchen wearing a pink dressing gown, blue bunny slippers and a very disgruntled expression.

"You won't believe what I just heard on the radio!" Chloe blurted out, unable to hold in her excitement.

"I already know," Aubrey replied flatly.

"What, how?"

Aubrey raised her hand in response, her fingers around her mobile.

"Bumper just called me."

"Bumper Allen?"

"Do you know anyone else with a name that stupid? He was there last night and wants to offer Beca like a million dollars to play for his club, and he had the nerve to call me."

"He's going to offer a million dollars?" Chloe gasped, "Can he afford that?"

"Well not literally a million, but big money. He was the one that organised for the song to get radio play already, he wants to win her over."

Chloe gaped as she comprehended what she'd heard. Bumper Allen owned the biggest club in Atlanta, and was known for having the best DJs from all over the world play for him. If he was making this much of an effort with Beca then he obviously though she was the real deal.

"What do we do?" Chloe asked,

"Well we can't tell her, that's for sure-" Aubrey started.

"Tell me what?" A voice interrupted from behind them, and they swung around to find Beca standing in the doorway, with one of Chloe's towels wrapped around her hair and her eyebrow raised accusingly.

"Great." Aubrey groaned.

"What's going on?" Beca frowned and turned to Chloe for an answer.

Chloe glanced at Aubrey briefly before she filled Beca in. 

"Bumper Allen just rang," she explained, "he's someone who was there last night. And uh, he rang because he wants you to play for his club and he'll offer you a bunch of money to do it."

"He rang you?" Beca asked again, looking at Aubrey now.

"Yes he did." Aubrey sniffed. "Trying to steal my DJ after only the first night, honestly."

"That's low." Beca agreed and Chloe and Aubrey's mouths dropped open in unison.

"You think so?" Chloe raised her eyebrow. "Did you hear the 'heaps of money' part?"

"You guys pay me too, and this guy sounds like a douche." Beca shrugged and sat herself at the kitchen bench, pulling a box of cereal and a bowl towards her. "Tell the Bumper dude to find someone else."

Chloe beamed proudly and turned to find Aubrey struggling to stop the very same smile from spreading across her own face.


	8. Chapter 8

Several days later Beca was lounging in her chair, legs up on the desk next to her turntables as she flipped a small box in her hand over and over. Today was Chloe's birthday and with Beca's sudden influx of cash, she had been able to afford a real present for her. Last night she'd ventured to the shops for the first time in God knows how long and found the perfect gift for Chloe; a small silver bracelet with a cute little ladybug charm. Well, Beca actually thought the ladybug was a bit lame, but she'd skyped Jesse and he had assured her it was just right. She'd finished off the white box with a red ribbon and a slightly messy bow and scrawled 'To Chloe' on the top. It seemed to be fine but if she thought about it any longer she was going to start second-guessing herself, so she placed it under the table and out of sight, in hope of forgetting the nerves the box was giving her.

Next to her computer Beca's mobile buzzed, displaying a number on the screen she didn't recognise. She answered it and was met with the voice of a man with an English accent.

"Hello?"

"Hello, are you DJ BAM by any chance?"

"That's me." Beca smirked, leaning back against her chair. Her name was spreading face; already she had rejected four different clubs who had rung begging for her to spin for them, and it seemed like this was about to be number five.

"Great!" The young man responded enthusiastically, "I'm Luke, owner of Open Season records. I'd love to have a chat about getting you on board."

"Wait," Beca paused, heartbeat kicking up. "You want to sign me?"

"That's right. Our studio is here in LA and with the amount of quality material I hear you have, it wouldn't take us long to have your first album in the works."

Beca had to take a deep breath to contain her excitement and keep herself from screaming out a huge 'yes'! There was one very important thing holding her back. "So I'd have to move to LA?"

"At least temporarily, yes. But of course we would give you a hand with finding accommodation, and as I'm sure you know, a move to LA for someone in your profession is always a good idea. What do you think?"

What did she think? For years Beca's dream had been to sign to a record label and release her own music. Now, some man in LA was offering her exactly that and she was hesitating. Hesitating because a certain bubbly redhead had captured her attention in a way she'd never experienced before, and she hated herself for allowing it to get to this point after barely a few weeks. Throughout high-school and college she had never let herself become attached to anyone, and for good reason.

Love destroyed you, she knew that. She'd seen it first hand when her Mum and Dad fell apart and her Mom left, escaping their ruined home. And here she was, about to turn Luke down for a girl she'd just met. For a girl she wasn't even sure returned her feelings. 

"I just...I don't think I can commit to that right now."

There was silence from the other end of the line and it was right at that moment that Chloe decided to burst through the door to Beca's little alcove. Her eyes widened when she realised Beca was on the phone and she made an exaggerated surprised face before tiptoeing over to the bench and plopping herself down on Beca's keyboard.

"These kind of offers don't last forever you know," Luke finally replied, sounding disgruntled.

"I know, I know," Beca sighed, running her hand through her hair.

"Look, I'll give you some time to think it over okay? Call me back in a few days if you change your mind."

"Okay thank you, thanks for the call, thank-" The call cut out and Beca reluctantly lowered her phone from her ear.

"Who was that?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Some guy from LA offering me a record deal," Beca replied flatly, leaning back heavily in her chair.

"Offering you a what?" Chloe squealed loudly.

"I didn't take it."

"You didn't take it?" She screeched again, even louder this time.

Beca snorted, faintly amused by Chloe's hysterics.

"No?" 

"Are you for serious? Beca that was your big break!"

"Stop it, you're making it worse, Beca complained. "I just told him I've got some things I need to figure out here first before I move on."

"A guy rang you." Chloe didn't seem to be listening.

"Yes, he did."

"From LA"

"Yes."

"And offered you a record deal."

"Uh huh."

"And you said no."

"I did."

"You're crazy." Chloe shook her head in disbelief.

"And yet I'm not the one that did all that screaming just now," Beca shot back with a smirk. "Why are you here, by the way?"

"I just came to say hi." Chloe shrugged nonchalantly, swinging her legs as she sat.

"Well hello then." Beca smiled.

"Hi." Chloe grinned back. 

"I am glad you came to visit me actually because..." Beca paused for dramatic effect and whipped Chloe's present out from under the desk with a flourish. "I got you something."

"You didn't!" Chloe exclaimed in glee. "Oh, Bug you shouldn't have."

"Well it was in my best interests actually, Aubrey told me if I didn't get you something I'd be fired. Not that that was the reason I got it for you, I was going to anyway I just...I'm ruining the moment aren't I?" She trailed off, and then held the box out to Chloe who reached for it eagerly, but Beca didn't let go.

"Wait, there's one condition."

"Oh?"

"You need to move off my keyboard." Beca grinned, "I don't think the computer can cope for much longer."

Chloe looked behind her in surprise and found the screen covered with a cluster of programs.

"Oops!" She chirped sheepishly and slipped off the keyboard and onto the table where Beca handed her the box with a nervous smile. Chloe didn't even notice as she took the box from Beca's hands carefully and slipped the ribbon off. She slowly eased the lid off to peek inside and Beca smiled when she gasped at the sight of the ladybug charm.

"Bug," She breathed quietly, as she hooked the bracelet out with her pinkie. "It's perfect."

"Are you talking to me or the jewelry?" Chloe met Beca's eyes as she laughed, her entire face lit up, and Beca blushed. "It's nothing special. I just thought...cause they're your lucky charm...I'd get you a literal ladybug charm."

"I love it," Chloe declared as she slipped it onto her left wrist and fiddled with the clasp. "Now I'll be doubly lucky."

It was all Beca could do to smile meekly as Chloe skipped over to where she was sitting and draped her arms around her neck.

"I've been wanting to ask, where'd the new DJ name come from?"

"Oh right! DJ BAM?"

Chloe nodded in response.

"Don't you remember?" Beca continued, "You gave it to me! Beca Amaze Mitchell, from when you told me I got the job."

"Well then I'm honored to be a part of the industry's newest star." Chloe grinned. "And thanks for my present gorgeous." She leaned down and pressed a quick peck to Beca's cheek before heading back down the stairs and leaving Beca blushing madly and her cheek burning.

 

Later that night the club was once again open for business, and packed to capacity, as had become the norm. Beca thought they were travelling particularly well tonight, as Aubrey hadn't yet found a reason to yell at her over the walkie-talkies, and Fat Amy had so far only accidentally arrested one person. The audience was reacting well to Beca's music, as she pumped out her original materiel mixed between current hits.

"Beca!" Chloe's familiar voice suddenly called from behind her.

"Back again-oh?" Beca barely had time to rise off her seat before the taller girl had grabbed her hands and pulled her face incredibly close to her own.

"I am so glad that I met you," Chloe murmured, somewhat breathlessly. "I think that we're going to be really great friends."

"Yeah well, you saw me naked so..." Beca winked and Chloe hummed in agreement, nodding earnestly.

Finally Chloe pulled away slightly and announced that she getting a drink since Aubrey hadn't let her until now because she was meant to be on 'Bumper lookout duty.'

"Please be careful!" Beca quipped as Chloe began to walk away, for some reason slapping her butt as she went. Suddenly upon hearing Beca she spun around and studied Beca with a look so serious Beca thought she must have done something wrong.

"Uhh I was just joking," Beca frowned slightly, "I meant don't get yourself smashed while everyone's still here 'cause some guys are douches and I don't want anyone taking advantage of you or something,"

"Can you queue songs on this thing?" Chloe asked, completely ignoring Beca and waving her hand at the turntables Beca was using.

"Uh yeah sure, but why?"

"I want to show you something."

Confused but also curious, Beca added a couple of her best songs to the queue and followed Chloe down the stairs. At the bottom Chloe turned and headed straight towards the dance floor, pausing only to link her hand with Beca's so they wouldn't be separated as they pushed through the throng of people.

"Where are we going?" Beca tried again to find out what was happening but Chloe either didn't answer or perhaps just didn't hear her over the pumping music. As she dodged a particularly drunk guy trying out some spectacular dance move (which ended with him landing very unspectacularly on his ass) Beca realised she'd never been on the floor of a venue when her music was playing. It was certainly different; the music was so loud down here people had to shout to hear themselves, but there was also the devastating combination of smells including sweat, perfume and alcohol. It was no wonder Chloe was so keen to get a few drinks into her, being here sober was horribly overwhelming for the senses. 

Finally Chloe stopped pulling her and Beca felt a little twang of disappointment as Chloe let go of her hand and swung around to face her.

"Can you believe this?" Chloe shouted to her, positively beaming.

"I know, it reeks!" Beca answered and Chloe giggled and stepped closer.

Probably so they could hear each other better.

"I don't mean that! Look around!"

Beca frowned, slightly confused, but did as she was told and surveyed the area around her. They had ended up right in the middle of the floor and in every direction as far as she could see (from standing on her tippy toes) people were dancing and laughing. 

The songs switched over and Beca's newest mashup of Just The Way You Are and Just A Dream blared through the room. A rousing cheer of approval came from the mass of people and most started drunkenly blasting out the lyrics.

"Is this what it's always like?" Beca asked, spinning back around to face Chloe.

"Yep, and you know why?"

"Because everyone's drunk off their face?" Beca suggested.

"No, and you know it." Chloe said. "It's because of you Beca. You did this with your music! Everyone here is dancing because of you!" Chloe's eyes were wide and earnest. "Do you remember when I told you to be yourself, and you told me no one liked you?"

Beca nodded, she could vaguely remember that conversation back when she was struggling to get Jesse to let her wear what she wanted to her interview.

"All these people love you Beca! They don't care what you look like, or how you dress, of if you have these enormous _ear monstrosities_." She flicked Beca's earring and Beca laughed softly. "They just love you because you make awesome music, and you make them happy. It's like the song says." Chloe sung quietly along with the song playing around them. "Girl you're amazing, just the way you are."

Beca knew that she should be rolling her eyes, or maybe laughing uncomfortably, but instead she just grinned back at Chloe who was still smiling radiantly at her.

"Wow, thanks for the cheesy pep talk Chlo but I really should get back, people aren't going to find me so amazing when there's no music to dance to." She stopped suddenly as she realised Chloe's hands had found her own again.

"You're special Beca," Chloe whispered and suddenly she was kissing her. Beca stood frozen in shock until she registered what was happening and began kissing her back, because this was Chloe, and this was what she wanted. Chloe wasn't going to hurt her, didn't want to change anything about her, loved her just as she was. 

And that was it. As soon as the thought entered Beca's mind she pulled back, terrified.

"Beca," Chloe stared at her with concern. "Was that not okay? I'm so sorry, I thought-"

"No it's just..." Beca muttered, not even sure what she was saying. "I can't Chloe. I can't, I'm sorry. I need to go."

"Beca wait, please!" 

But Beca turned and ran, pushing roughly through the crowd in her haste to get back to her box above the floor. Back to her turntables and her headphones, her music. Music was what she loved, the only thing she could allow herself be attached to. 

Because no matter how much she loved music, she knew it would never leave her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for missing a day!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aubrey has an idea!  
> ...  
> ...  
> ...  
> ...  
> It's a terrible idea.

Chloe sat slumped in her chair at the kitchen bench, watching as Aubrey attempted to cook lunch in an effort to cheer her up. She knew for a fact that Beca had made her way home alone last night, since Jesse had apparently landed a role in a big movie coming out next year and already moved temporarily to LA. The door to Beca's alcove had remained locked for the rest of the night and Aubrey had insisted it was best to leave her to think for a while. Closing time had finally come around but when Chloe went to check on Beca again, the door was open and her stuff gone.

"Honestly Chloe, pull yourself together. We've got more important things to worry about that than that stupid girl." Aubrey slid a plate of steaming noodles across the counter to Chloe, who sighed. "As long as she's still spinning for us I don't see what the problem is."

"She's not stupid," Chloe muttered as she fiddled with the charm on her wrist and ignored the food. "I really like her."

"You and me both, she's making us rich."

"You know that's not what I mean," Chloe grumbled.

"No, but it's what you should mean. I'm telling you, nothing good can come from chasing her."

"Like you can talk," Chloe snapped, "How long has it been now since you've dated a guy for longer than a month?"

Aubrey bristled and Chloe quickly tried to backtrack. "No look, sorry, I didn't mean that Bree. Last night really shook me up."

"And you think moping around like this is going to fix anything?" Aubrey raised her eyebrow. 

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean Beca. Have you done anything since last night? Texted? Rung?"

"You told me to leave her for a bit." Chloe frowned. Aubrey's sudden mood changes could be so confusing.

"That was last night, she's had time to think since then! If she hasn't done anything until now then the ball's back in your court."

"Since when do you use sport metaphors?" Chloe asked in bemusement.

"I pick these things up." Aubrey brushed the comment aside. "And speaking of which, I've been thinking of adding a weekly zumba class to my schedule on top of my usual pilates session, you should join. I've heard it's great for stress."

Chloe had to swallow her tongue to keep from pointing out that Aubrey was the stress-head, not her. 

"I'll think about it."

"Great." Aubrey smiled widely, "I'll add it to our weekly planner. Now, as for your lady situation, I've got an idea. I think she likes you, so that's not a problem. From what you've told me, it seems like she can't figure out what she's meant to do next, and unless you do something, she's going to keep waiting."

"But I already tried to kiss her," Chloe pointed out.

"Yes, and how well did that work out for you? I know the type; she's afraid of commitment and then feels sorry for herself when nothing works out. She needs to realise on her own that you're too good of a catch to let slip by. She doesn't know yet what she's missing out on." Aubrey paused for both breath and effect. "She needs to be smacked in the face with her feelings for you."

"So what do you suggest then?"

"Easy." Aubrey smiled wickedly, "We'll make her jealous."

 

Beca was late again, and once again blamed her lack of transport. She didn't burst in the door this time though, instead walking over rather awkwardly. Her makeup seemed to stand out even more than usual and she averted her eyes from Chloe's as she slumped into one of the chairs Aubrey had set out for them, over near Amy.

"Woah girl," Amy exclaimed in response to Beca's dark appearance. "I know it's like _your style_ , but you really gotta keep that gunk under control! You look like some kind of raccoon. Either that or you got head butted straight in the face."

"Ahem." Aubrey cleared her throat and interrupted Amy from the front of the room, "I appreciate you trying to help out your fellow team members with fashion advice Amy, but perhaps you could find a more suitable time. Now, as you all know, I've called today's meeting to discuss the limited success we've been having with the walkie-talkies. Lilly if you could bring me yours please, I think I've found a way to adjust the volume…"

"We could have given you a lift," Chloe spoke quietly, leaning to her left and studying Beca's slouched form.

"Sorry." Was Beca's only response, her eyes not lifting from the floor.

"I need to speak to you," Chloe started, but her words were drowned out by the commotion at the front of the room.

"AMY NO! These are expensive pieces of equipment!"

"Stress less Blondie." Amy held the walkie talkie in her hand away from a jumping Aubrey and a confused Lilly. "I used these all the time when I owned a trucking company in Tassie, we just pull this dial off and… oh fu-."

 

At 11:30pm, the time Aubrey had set, Chloe made her way over to the bar, the designated meeting point. Despite her insistence on punctuality, Aubrey wasn't anywhere to be seen, so Chloe moved around to the side of the bar and slumped against the doors.

"Having a long night babe?" Stacey chirped, continuing to serve customers as she spoke.

"Just tired," Chloe replied, somewhat truthfully.

"Tell me about it." Stacey nodded. "I haven't had a night off sex all week. It just gets too much sometimes."

"I'm sure it does." Chloe grimaced. "Got anything strong for me?"

"Try this." Stacey handed her a glass. "Oh, here comes Aubrey, quick, look like you're doing something important!"

With that Stacey spun around and promptly resumed pouring drinks, flashing the approaching Aubrey a bright smile over her shoulder. Aubrey strode towards them and pushed through the swinging doors to the bar, grabbing a drink straight from Jessica's hand and draining it in one gulp.

"I needed that one," She exclaimed a second later, setting her finished glass down on the bench, "How are you?"

"Nervous." Chloe sipped at her own drink, and grimaced at the taste. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"It's the oldest trick in the book, it'll work," Aubrey replied, waving her hand airily. "Have you picked your target?"

"My target?" Chloe almost giggled, "No, I haven't seen anyone."

"Honestly Chloe, you've been looking all night and haven't found anyone? There, look, he's perfect."

Chloe looked to where Aubrey was pointing and found who she meant. A tallish guy with brown hair, wearing a plain shirt with nice jeans.

"What do you think?" Aubrey prompted impatiently.

"He looks fine, I guess."

"Of course he does, I picked him. Right, onto step two then. It's currently-" Aubrey checked her phone. "Twenty to twelve. Think you can do it by twelve?"

"Yes but, I just- I just don't know if this is the right thing to do Bree. I don't want to hurt her."

"Don't be stupid, you're not chickening out now are you? Trust me, she'll be all yours after tonight, I've done this hundreds of times."

"And you're single," Chloe muttered under her breath. Suddenly there was a crackle from under Aubrey's jacket and a faint voice could be heard. Aubrey grabbed the walkie-talkie out and held it to her ear, furiously turning up the volume dial.

"Honestly!" She exclaimed, "Right, I've got to go, Lilly needs me for something. At least I assume she does. I'll be ready at twelve, good luck!"

With that, she strode off again, and Chloe was left standing alone with her awful drink.

"This better work," she sighed to herself and quickly gulped the rest down.

 

Tom was his name apparently, he was 25, and studying marketing. These were just a few of the facts Chloe had learnt about her 'target' in the ten minutes that she had first spent introducing herself, and then trying to keep his hands off her.

'Only five more minutes,' she thought to herself desperately, as she did a little shimmy to dislodge Tom's hands, which were placed firmly on her sides, and moving upwards.

"I love this song!" He shouted at her.

"Same," Chloe replied, and she really did. It was one of Beca's remixes, a 'Beauty and a Beat' remake. "I know the DJ." She blurted.

"Really?" Tom looked impressed. "She's good."

Chloe nodded and resumed her half-hearted dancing, with Tom pressed close to her. Up in the alcove she could see the top of Beca's head, with her headphones planted firmly over her ears, but still no Aubrey. What was she doing? It was 11:58 already, in two minutes she was meant to be up there with Beca. They, or rather Aubrey, had decided that she would point out Chloe at midnight, pretending that the Chloe had sent Aubrey with a request for a song.

One minute to go, and still no Aubrey.

"I'm going to get another drink," Tom said, allowing his hand to trail over Chloe's lower back as he moved.

"Wha-No, wait!" Chloe stuttered; Aubrey had finally appeared in the alcove.

"What?" Tom replied, raising his voice over the music.

"I'm not thirsty," Chloe lied desperately. Aubrey was talking, and the headphones had disappeared from Beca's head.

"But I am-" Tom started, but Chloe had seen Aubrey point from the corner of her eye and closed the gap between Tom and herself, screwed her eyes shut and kissed him, latching onto his jumper. Tom eagerly kissed her back, and Chloe tried unsuccessfully to push the thoughts of what Beca would be thinking right now from her mind. When Tom pulled back after a few moments to announce with a grin that he could probably go without that drink for a while, she glanced up to the alcove and felt a pang in her stomach when she saw both Beca and Aubrey gone. In a second Tom was leaning in again, and any chance of finding either of the girls in the next few minutes was lost.

 

"Thank God," Chloe breathed out in relief later, joining Aubrey in the bar. "That took way too long to get away, he wanted me to go home with him."

"How'd you get away?" Aubrey asked, and offering her a drink. "Here, have this, you look like you need it."

"Thanks," Chloe smiled weakly. "He went to the bathroom, so I bolted."

"How was he? He looked hot."

"Horrible," Chloe started to giggle as she remembered. "He kissed like a washing machine."

Aubrey grinned, "How does someone kiss like a washing machine?"

"I don't know," Chloe laughed. "But he did! How'd it go with Beca?"

"All fine, I pointed you out, and you kissed him right then. Perfect timing."

"What did she think?"

"No idea, she put the song on that I had said you wanted right away, and then left for the bathroom. I haven't seen her since. I'm sure it worked though, you were really going for it out there."

"She's not back," Chloe realised, ignoring what Aubrey was saying.

"What?" Aubrey frowned, following Chloe's gaze up to the DJ's alcove, where Beca was nowhere to be seen. "She has to be, her music's still playing."

"No," Chloe muttered, trying to stop the panic rising through her. "No she can queue songs."

"What are you talking about?"

"She can put her songs on queue Aubrey! They just keep playing even though she's not there. Listen, she's not mixing anything."

They were both quiet, and sure enough Chloe was right. There was a remix playing at that moment, but it lacked any of the usual effects Beca added while she was working.

"I'm sure she's fine," Aubrey soothed, though she was frowning herself. "Wait, I'll ask the others."

Chloe watched as Aubrey pulled out her walkie-talkie, though she already knew Aubrey wasn't going to get the answer she wanted. Fat Amy's voice crackled out of the speaker in response to Aubrey's question.

"Beca? Yeah she left out the back, said she'd only be a minute."

"Did she say what she was doing?" Aubrey asked.

"Yeah, said she was grabbing something from her car."

Aubrey breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Chloe with a smile.

"See, what did I tell you? And you doubted me."

Chloe groaned, dropping her head into her hands.

"She doesn't have a car Bree."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where did all this angst come from??? Happy times are coming, I promise.


	10. Chapter 10

So this is it, Beca mused to herself as she shuffled through the airport, her small bag of luggage hefted onto her shoulder. She'd never really minded flying, and found it easy to entertain herself through the trip, tweaking and mixing her music on her laptop, able to lose herself in the sounds. 

Her flight was just over four hours, and she'd made a solid start on a new remix. With her earphones over her ears blasting the new song, she tapped her fingers along to the beat as she walked, planning the changes she would make as soon as she could get her hands on her laptop again.

"Beca!" She heard Jesse's faint shout over her music.

He wasn't hard to spot; grinning excitedly at her and waving with both arms. He was dressed in new clothes, and seemed to exude an even higher level of confidence than usual, which was hard to believe considering the attitude he'd always had. As he walked towards her and wrapped Beca in a hug, she couldn't help but smile at being reunited with her best friend.

"Miss me?" Jesse beamed as he ruffled her hair.

"Nope," Beca lied with a smile.

"You look tired dude."

"I feel tired. Probably 'cause I've been awake for like 30 hours so far."

"That could do it." Jesse smiled softly. "But hey seriously, I'm sorry about what happened with Chloe."

"Can we please not talk about that? I really don't want to think about it anymore."

"But really! She kissed you, then doesn't even talk to you before she kisses someone else?"

"You're still talking about it," Beca pointed out.

"I know but-"

"Jesse, shut up. Shouldn't you be giving me like a super-exclusive tour of LA or something?"

Jesse was silent for another few seconds, looking at Beca with concern before plastering a smile on his face. "Just what I was thinking ma'am! Right then, my name is Jesse Swanson and I'll be your tour guide today, and also tomorrow, and every day after. Now if you look to your right you'll see one of LA's most famous attractions, baggage carousel number 28. This way please, follow me, and I hope you've got your cameras ready folks because coming up on the left here we'll see baggage carousel number 27."

After walking through several car parks outside, Jesse stopped on a footpath next to what looked like bus-parks.

"Two seconds," He muttered, tapping away on his phone.

A thought struck Beca as she watched a family pile into their car across the road. "Wait, how are we getting to your place? Didn't you leave your car back home at ours?"

The boy grinned. "Sure did. You'll see in approximately five seconds. Four, three, two, one and…"

Beca stared in wonder as a limousine slowed and glided to a stop right in front of them.

"This is yours?" she asked, awestruck.

"Well, not exactly," Jesse grinned, as he bounded forward and held open the door for Beca. "A friend from the movie hooked me up with it for while I'm here. Not to mention I told him I had a famous DJ coming to stay with me, and she doesn't travel in just any old car!"

"Jesse I've been taking the bus all week."

"Yes, well no longer; it's the lifestyle of the rich and famous for us from here on out Bec! Or the lifestyle of those-no-longer-in-debt and the moderately well-known at least. You like?"

"It's amazing," Beca replied as she slid along the plush seats to let Jesse in after her, gazing in awe at the speakers and flashing lights that surrounded her. "Exactly how big is this movie Jesse?"

"Monkey Swarm? Yeah bigger than I first thought actually. I'm telling you dude, I've hit the jackpot with this one."

"I still think it's a stupid name though," Beca muttered.

"Well stupid name or not, it's got you and me a sweet ride for the next few weeks, so don't be complaining. Meet Donald by the way. Donald, this is DJ BAM."

"Yo," The young driver raised a hand in response as he pulled the limo out into the street. "Been hearing some good things about you."

"Uh yeah," Beca blushed slightly. "Nice to meet you."

The back of Donald's head nodded and Jesse grinned happily at her before turning back to Donald and calling "Take us home driver!"

 

The apartment Jesse was staying in was somewhat underwhelming after the surprise of the limo, but it was still considerably more fancy than their one back home, and when Jesse led her proudly to the large room he'd set up as Beca's, she couldn't help but be impressed.

"I didn't make your bed yet," he said. "But I've put out fresh sheets, and I got you a calendar since I thought you might actually have some use for one now, and look, you've even got a view!"

Beca moved to join Jesse at the window. "It's really nice," she smiled at him. "Thanks for setting everything up. I can tell you love it here."

"Course I do, would you just look at this place? Everyone would!"

"I mean it though," Beca insisted, "It suits you here. I'm happy for you."

"Aww thanks loser." Jesse grinned and clapped her on the back, "And here I was thinking it was impossible for you to be nice!"

Beca just shook her head in mild amusement and begun unpacking her bags.

"I've got a meeting with Luke this afternoon." She remembered suddenly. "Did I already tell you? To discuss the contract."

"You sure did," Jesse chirped back. "I've got Donald organised to pick you up, 'cause I won't be here actually."

"Oh, you're working?"

"Um," Jesse was staring out the window again, looking suddenly guilty as he avoided eye contact. "I possibly, might maybe have a date actually. I didn't want to say anything before-"

"What? Jesse that's great! What's her name?

"Katie," he replied, looking relieved and unable to stop himself from smiling. "I met her on set, she works on the crew with the lighting and stuff. Guess what her favourite movie is?"

"Don't tell me it's 'The Breakfast Club'…"

"Yup." Jesse grinned happily, "We're going to watch it tonight."

"Thank God, it's a miracle!" Beca cried, flopping on the bed and throwing her arms in the air. "Finally, someone else for you to watch movies with!"

Jesse laughed and shook his head as he sat down next to Beca, who sat up and gave him a little shove.

"But seriously, why didn't you tell me earlier?" She asked.

"I didn't want you to get upset," Jesse shrugged. "You've got to admit you're pretty fragile at the moment."

"I'm not _fragile_." Beca scowled defensively.

"Are you serious? Your crush kissed someone else and you literally picked up your stuff and flew halfway across the country."

Beca groaned.

"Well when you put it like that…"

 

Later that day, Beca stood outside a small building halfway along a somewhat grungy street, trying to find the courage to actually get any closer to the doorway.

"I'll be waiting outside when you're done," Donald told her as he got back into the front of the limo. Beca nodded and sighed, and headed cautiously towards the green door in front of her which had the words 'OPEN SEASON RECORDS' printed neatly on it. Unsure of what to do, she knocked, but when no one answered the door she eventually pushed it open and stepped through.

Inside was a hallway lined with row upon row of CDs from the floor to ceiling. There were several closed doors in front of her and so she walked towards them, on the way passing a room on the right filled with all kinds of expensive recording equipment. She came to a stop outside the door of what looked to be an office, and turned around, taking everything in.

Suddenly the door behind her opened and she jumped in surprise as a young blonde man walked out, looking at her strangely.

"Have you been standing there long?" 

Beca reddened.

"Uh no, I just got here, I wasn't just…standing here." 

"Right, well you must be Becky! I'm Luke, good to meet you." He offered an outstretched hand and Beca shook it, hoping her hands weren't sweaty from nerves.

"It's Beca actually-" she started, but was cut off by Luke who didn't seem to hear her talking.

"I'm going to need to rush off soon, so if we could get this settled quickly that would be ace. There's a couple of forms we need you to sign to begin with-"

At that moment 'Titanium' began to blare from Beca's back pocket, interrupting Luke mid-sentence. 

"Shit, sorry," she blushed fiercely and took her phone out to reject the call, but hesitated when she saw the name 'Chloe' flashing from the screen. Her thumb hovred above the red button.

After a second Luke coughed, bringing Beca back to her senses. She cancelled the call and switched the phone to silent, dropping it onto the table beside her.

"Sorry," She muttered again.

"No worries," Luke drawled with a raised eyebrow. "Nice phone you've got there."

Beca's face reddened even further as they both glanced back down at the battered nokia.

Luke smirked, but continued, "Anyway, you should be able to get through most of the paperwork by tomorrow, and then we'll start on-"

Beca's phone flashed again indicating a text, and spun itself in a circle as the vibration rattled the table it was on.

_Chloe: Where are you?_

"Popular girl aren't you Becky?" Said Luke with a small frown, cocking his head to the side.

"Uh no, it's no one. I'm sorry," Beca said, aware that this was quickly becoming not the ideal first meeting with someone who wanted to employ you.

"Right." Luke nodded, uninterested. "How 'bout I just go grab those papers for you now then."

He stepped into the office again and Beca snatched at her phone as another message lit the screen.

_Chloe: Where did you go last night?_

*Bzzzz*

_Chloe: I'm worried about you :(_

*Bzzzz*

_Chloe: Aubrey's freaking out. I told her you'll still be coming tonight._

*Bzzzz*

_Chloe: You are coming, right?_

*Bzzzz*

_Chloe: Get back to me when you can xx_

Beca stared at the messages, but shoved the phone back into her pocket a second later when she saw Luke returning with a stack of papers and a pen, which he held out to Beca.

"I'm afraid I'm already late for that meeting, so I'll have to leave these with you. Meet you back here same time tomorrow yeah?"

"Uh, yeah. Yep. Sure." Beca nodded quickly.

"Great. We'll talk about things properly then when I've got more time. Looking forward to working with you Becky!" He retreated back into his office leaving Beca to gather the pile of forms. She took a few steps before she paused and glanced back over her shoulder at the trash can sitting outside Luke's office door. With a quick look to see Luke was still inside, she walked over, pulled out her phone, and dropped it in the bin, before walking back outside to meet Donald.

 

A week later Beca was lying on Jesse's couch, listening as the radio near her head blasted out her newest song, 'Cups.' 

It was huge.

Unknown to her, Luke's company had major connections, and he was able to pull serious some promotion for Beca's latest single. Already she'd given four radio interviews, received interest from no less than seventeen magazines requesting a meeting with her, and had one (overwhelmingly uncomfortable) photo shoot. Everything was going perfectly, better than she could have ever hoped, and yet -

"Isn't this just the life?" Jesse exclaimed, interrupting Beca's thoughts as he called out from the kitchen where he was grabbing drinks for the two of them.

Beca grunted halfheartedly, spinning the TV remote through her fingers.

"I mean you and me, together in the big city, the money rolling in, girls chasing after us. Well actually, chasing mostly me, but still."

Beca rolled her eyes, and heard Jesse's phone ring, interrupting him.

Jesse really was loving his adventure in LA it seemed. Everything was going well with Katie, who Beca had now met and had seemed nice enough, and he was being kept busy with his acting, going into set almost every day.

At that moment Jesse walked into the room still on the phone and Beca glanced up at him.

"Sure," he was saying, in an unusually high voice as he scuffed at the carpet with his foot. "Yeah I'll put her on now. Good to speak to you…Ok…Ok Bye."

Beca stared up at him in confusion. 

"My Dad?" She mouthed at him questioningly. She didn't think her Dad even knew Jesse's number though, and couldn't think of how he would have found it.

Jesse didn't reply and seemed to be determinedly avoiding eye contact as he handed his phone over and flopped onto a beanbag opposite Beca. Confused, she raised Jesse's phone to her ear.

"Dad?"

"Beca?"

At the sound of the soft voice on the other end of the phone, which definitely didn't belong to her Dad, Beca's head whipped up and she glared furiously at the boy lying across from her, who sat up quickly and held up his hands in pleaded innocence.

"You rang her!?" Beca hissed.

"She rang me!" Jesse defended himself. "I swear, I don't know how she got my number. She says she has to speak to you, it's important."

"No shit it's important, they have to tell me I'm fired for not turning up to work for a whole week!" Beca covered the phone as she whispered harshly back.

"…Beca? Are you there?"

Beca sighed in resignation and bought the phone to her ear again, shooting Jesse another death stare as she did.

"Chloe? Yeah I'm here."

"Bug!" Chloe gushed, sounding relieved Beca hadn't hung up. "Hey! Hi! How are you? Are you ok? You're not sick again are you?"

Beca was quiet for a second. She had expected Chloe to be yelling about her unexplained disappearance, not asking about her health.

"I'm ok," she replied cautiously.

"You weren't answering your phone all week."

"Mmm. I lost it," she lied easily.

"Oh." Chloe responded, and Beca noticed she sounded somewhat nervous. "So where are you guys?"

"We're in LA. Jesse's got a place here."

There was a long pause from the other end of the line. Finally Chloe asked quietly,

"LA? Does that mean you've accepted the album deal?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." There was silence again for a minute. "I'll tell Aubrey then. She'll want to start looking for a replacement DJ."

"You haven't already got someone?" Beca asked, surprised despite her best efforts to sound disinterested.

"Aubrey wanted to hire someone new after the second night you didn't show. I told her you'd come back though, and made her wait. Guess I look stupid now."

Beca shook her head, forgetting Chloe couldn't see her.

"We just didn't know what had happened to you B," Chloe continued, her voice soft. "I was worried about you."

"Don't be," Beca snapped quickly.

"Beca please," Chloe's breathing was heavy and Beca realised suddenly she must be crying. "If this is about the other night, I'm really sorry I kissed you. I didn't want to go too fast, but I just thought-"

"What?" Beca interrupted, "No it wasn't that-…Chloe I saw you kissing that guy. The night I left."

The breathing she had been able to hear through the phone stopped.

"I know you saw that," Chloe said slowly.

"What?"

"You were meant to see it. Beca, I… I don't even know that guy, I swear. It was all a set up. It was Aubrey's idea but I went along with it because –"

"Because you don't have to pretend you have a say in your own life right?" Beca interrupted, digging her nails into her palm angrily.

"I thought after you left me the night before that you must have wanted to just stay friends," Chloe ignored her, her voice measured. "I thought I'd made a mistake, that I had nothing to lose. I didn't know it would matter to you."

"Well I'm telling you now it fucking mattered to me!" Beca was yelling now, pacing up and down in front of the couch as Jesse's eyes followed her.

"Beca…" Chloe's voice was barely a whisper. "I didn't think that- I didn't know-" She paused and took a deep breath. "If it upset you so much that I kissed that guy, what was the reason you ran the night before?"

Beca froze her pacing and looked pointedly back at Jesse, who scrambled up and left to busy himself in the kitchen again, leaving Beca alone.

"Beca?"

Beca squeezed her eyes shut tightly and let out an uneven breath.

"I'm scared Chloe."


	11. Chapter 11

For as long as Chloe had lived with Aubrey, Friday nights had been reserved for relaxing on the couch with dinner and a movie, winding down from the week. Tonight though, they girls had just too much to talk about, and so the screen stayed blank and Aubrey, who seemed to be in a decidedly good mood, (which was surprising considering the chaos surrounding Bellas at the moment) had ordered pizza and poured them each a generous serving of wine.

The tiredness that had dogged Chloe ever since opening night still refused to leave her alone, so even though it was only seven in the evening she didn't know how much longer she would be able to stay awake. For now at least it seemed she didn't have much of a choice, because Aubrey just would not let the subject of Chloe's phone call with Beca drop.

"So she was jealous?" Aubrey persisted, as she reached for another slice of vegetarian pizza.

"I've already told you everything she said," Chloe sighed, rolling her eyes. "But yes, she definitely didn't like that I kissed Brad or whatever his name was."

"Tom," Aubrey corrected.

"Whatever." Chloe shrugged nonchalantly.

Aubrey took a bite and dabbed at her face with a napkin.

"Well it's obvious that my plan worked, so you can thank me anytime now."

"Thank you?" Chloe replied in disbelief. "Aubrey all you did was send her across the country!"

"But at least you know for sure now that she definitely likes you! How was I meant to know she was going to freak out like that? She's got some serious issues."

"She doesn't have _'issues'_. She told me she's never been in a serious relationship before," Chloe said. "At least not for more than a few months. She's scared of getting hurt."

Aubrey scoffed. 

"You're not going to hurt her Chlo."

"I already did," Chloe pointed out.

Aubrey shifted uncomfortably, and stood up to take the empty pizza boxes to the kitchen.

"Yes, well." Aubrey stacked the boxes beside the sink and paused for a second, tapping her nails on the counter. "That may have been more my fault than yours."

Chloe nearly fell off her seat with shock. Aubrey absolutely hated being wrong, and would argue against an accusation of a mistake on her part until she was blue in the face. Including that one time she pinched Chloe's leftover pasta and swore up and down that Chloe must have eaten it and forgotten. With a smudge of sauce still stuck to her cheek. 

"Oh," Chloe said, rendered momentarily speechless. "Thank you for saying that. But... what's done is done. Any luck finding a new DJ yet?"

There was no response from Aubrey for a minute, who was busy fixing herself a bowl of yogurt.

"Actually, I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and I've had a better idea," Aubrey said slowly, walking back over and settling on the couch next to Chloe, watching her face carefully. "I don't want to get a new DJ."

"You don't?"

"No. I think you should go and get ours back. As much as I can't stand her, her sets were great, John and Gail loved her, and so did the crowd. We're not going to get anywhere without her."

Chloe couldn't believe her ears. 

"You want me to go to LA? When? What about work?"

"If I call my father I could easily organise to get you on a plane by tomorrow morning. Besides, I need the hot manager Chloe back, not this heart-broken mess. You haven't been able to concentrate properly at work ever since Beca left, its terrible for business. You bring Beca home and I'll have solved two problems at once. Three if you count you being reunited with your lady-friend, which I don't."

"And if she doesn't want to come home with me?" Chloe asked quietly.

Aubrey huffed. 

"Honestly Chloe, she looks at you like the sun shines out of your ass, and any idiot can see that you're head over heels for her, so if you aren't going to go after that wretched girl then so help me I will pick you up and drag you all the way to LA myself!"

"Okay, okay." Chloe laughed. "Yes of course I'll go, even though it's a crazy idea. But how will we do it? If I ask Jesse for his address Beca might find out I'm coming and just leave again."

"One step ahead of you," Aubrey smiled wickedly. "Or several steps actually. This is where he's staying at the moment." She took a slip of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Chloe, who unfolded it and read it, confused.

"I don't understand, how did you get this?"

Aubrey's knowing smile widened as it always did whenever she had some particularly juicy gossip to share. "Okay so you're not going to believe this, but Fat Amy is dating Bumper- ( _"WHAT?!"_ "I know right, it's weird") and apparently _he_ told _her_ that _his_ best friend is doing work in LA as a limo driver, and is ferrying around Hollywood's newest star – guess who - Jesse Swanson. She was pestering me for a pay rise because of her "famous connections.""

"So she knew Jesse's address?"

"Not exactly. She knew the name of the driver, so all I did was give that to Lilly and she hacked his phone and found the address on there. Ta da!" Aubery sat back looking supremely proud of herself. Chloe, however, was less so.

"You hacked his phone? Are you aware that's ILLEGAL?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Aubrey shrugged.

"Oh my God, you're unbelievable." Chloe laughed as she shook her head. "You're actually serious about this?"

Aubrey nodded, looking Chloe dead in the eye. "Dixie Chicks serious."

 

And so it was that Chloe found herself stumbling towards Aubrey's car the next morning before the sky was even light, with Aubrey rushing back and forwards around her, triple-checking that they had everything packed.

"You've still got your ticket right?" Aubrey asked as she ushered a yawning Chloe into the passenger seat.

"Yes Bree," Chloe mumbled, closing her eyes.

"Good, good." Aubrey reached across Chloe's lap to click her seatbelt in and sighed. "C'mon Chlo, I know you're not a morning person but honestly, this is like looking after a child."

"It's the middle of the night," Chloe grumbled.

"It's five in the morning. Have you got the address written down?"

"On my phone."

"Have you got your phone?"

"Yes Aubrey, I have my phone," Chloe groaned through gritted teeth. "Can we please just go?"

"Right yes let's go." Aubrey closed Chloe's door and ran around to the driver's side. "Okay, we're going! I just hope we've remembered everything. You've got your ticket right?"

 

One cancelled flight, a small crisis ("SHIT I forgot my toothbrush! Can you smell egg?") and a four hour plane trip later and Chloe was in a taxi watching out the window as the streets of Los Angeles traveled past, on the way to the address Aubrey had given her.

The closer she was to seeing Beca again for the first time in over a week, the more excited she became and equally, the more her nerves rose. No matter how confident Aubrey was that Beca would want to see her, Chloe was pretty sure that most people who ran away from someone didn't want that someone to then come chasing after them and turn up on their doorstep unannounced. Then again, it was become increasingly clear to her that Beca wasn't like most people. 

"This is it hun," The taxi driver drawled, as they came to a stop outside an apartment building that looked pretty much identical to the several other apartment buildings it was squished in between. 

Chloe thanked her and paid, and then stepped out of the car and crossed the sidewalk to head into the apartment foyer. It was only when she pushed the doors open and came to a stop in front of the elevator that she realised with a sinking feeling she had no idea which floor Beca and Jesse's apartment was on.

"Shit," She muttered to herself and examined the sign next to the elevator, which showed the building had seventeen levels. Since Beca had lost her phone, there was no way of knowing if she was already inside, or if not, when she would be coming home.

Dropping her bag on the floor against the wall, Chloe was just about to sink into the chair next to it to wait when she saw someone push the foyer door open and stride inside, attention fully on the phone in his hand. He was a young guy, no older than early 20s, with short brown hair and a pop in his step. He headed straight for the elevator without looking up and didn't notice Chloe standing by the wall. 

"Excuse me," Chloe said quickly, stepping forward, "I'm looking for someone who lives here, Beca Mitchell?"

At her words the man swung around and regarded her in surprise, his phone forgotten. She watched as his eyes flicked from the hair hanging around her shoulders to the small travel bag against the wall behind her, and his eyebrows knitted slightly.

"Even if I did know her, what makes you think I'd tell you anything?" He asked after a second of consideration, frowning in suspicion.

Chloe took a step backwards, her heart rate quickening in panic. Getting kicked out of the building if this guy called security thinking she was a stalker or a paparazzi was definitely not going to help her find Beca.

"I'm a friend," she promised, "My name's -"

"Chloe," the man finished for her, and Chloe's mouth dropped open. A cheeky grin spread across his face. "I'm Jesse. Nice to properly meet you."

"Oh my God! Jesse? You scared me!"

"Sorry." Jesse laughed easily. "Just testing out my acting skills. The red hair's a real giveaway."

Now that he was speaking more normally Chloe realised she did recognise his voice from their phone call the other day, and cursed herself for falling for his act so easily.

"So, um, is Beca home?" She asked, trying to keep her voice casual as she picked up her bag.

"Not sure, I've been at work all day (Chloe checked her watch and was surprised to find it was already four in the afternoon). But unless she's out at work she should be here; she's not much of a social butterfly. Come on, I'll take you up."

"Thanks." Chloe smiled gratefully.

Jesse pressed the button for the elevator and they stepped inside, where he leant casually against the wall and fixed his gaze on her once more. "So when did you get here? Beca never even told me you were visiting."

"She… doesn't know," Chloe admitted.

"Oh, a surprise visit, I see." Jesse smiled and nodded. The elevator stopped and opened on the 11th floor. "This is us."

Chloe followed Jesse to apartment 113, her heart rate quickening as they approached. Jesse swiped a card key next to the door handle and pushed the door open.

"Bec? There's someone here to see you!" He called out. 

Chloe walked inside and stood awkwardly just inside as Jesse let it swing shut behind them and crossed the room to push open a bedroom door. "Beca?"

There was no response, and when Jesse poked his head into the bathroom he found it empty as well.

"She's not here, sorry Chloe," Jesse said apologetically, and Chloe's heart sunk a little. He came back into the kitchen area and flicked the coffee machine on. "But it's getting pretty late so she should be home any minute. Have a seat while you wait, can I get you anything? Coffee, beer, soda?"

"Coffee would be great," Chloe replied gratefully.

"Coming right up!"

Jesse pulled a couple of mugs from somewhere under the counter and there was an awkward silence as they both pondered what you could say to someone you'd just met in a situation like this. The small room didn't offer much inspiration Chloe thought, as she could hardly tell it had been lived in. It was obvious Jesse and Beca had both left most of their possessions at home, as the only objects in the living area were a few newspapers and a huge stack of DVDs in the corner, next to a TV.

"That's... a lot of DVDs," Chloe commented lamely.

"Yeah." Jesse smiled, giving the coffee he was preparing a quick swirl with a teaspoon. "I just bought a few of my favourites from home."

"Can't you like, store them on a flash drive or something?"

"I could, but I like to collect them." Jesse shrugged. "Here's your coffee."

"Thanks." Chloe smiled and took a sip.

"So what brings you to LA?" Jesse asked, hoping up onto a barstool at the counter. "Last I heard you and Beca didn't exactly part on the best of terms."

"Aubrey sent me actually, she wants me to bring Beca back to keep playing as our DJ." Jesse frowned a little at this and Chloe hurried on. "That's not why I'm here though, not really. I missed her. A lot actually, and there was a misunderstanding, which we talked about on the phone but I really want to clear it up, and I think that would be a lot easier to do in person."

Jesse nodded slowly. "Okay. What you need to understand about Beca is that she doesn't trust easily. Her parents went through a pretty nasty breakup when she was growing up and she didn't take it well. She pushes people away so no one can get close to her, like a self-preservation thing."

"Except you," Chloe pointed out.

"And you," Jesse replied, "Beca doesn't have friends that she talks to more than once a week, let alone calls multiple times a day."

Before Chloe could respond to that, a loud insistent beeping suddenly sounded from somewhere in the apartment and Jesse jumped up from his seat.

"My alarm," he explained, "It gets a.m and p.m confused sometimes, don't ask me how."

He disappeared into his room and left Chloe alone to wonder if it was really the clock or Jesse himself that was to blame for the muddled alarm times. The beeping stopped after only a few seconds and Chloe finished the last of her drink as she waited for him to come back. When his door remained closed for another minute, she put her mug in the sink and walked over to examine the pile of movies on the floor.

"Oh!" She exclaimed softly as she spotted one of her favourites, Love Actually, and crouched down, pulling it out from the pile.

"Chloe!" A voice said suddenly from right behind her and she screamed, toppling sideways onto a beanbag, and finding Jesse standing above her with a strange expression on his face, a piece of paper clutched in his hand.

"Sorry to scare you," he apologised and crouched down next to her. "I just found this in my room. I think you'll want to read it."

Confused, Chloe shifted herself upright and took the paper Jesse was holding out to her. She turned it over to find a short letter written in a messy scrawl.

_Jesse,_

_I've decided to go back home. I asked Luke to give me this week off from working on the album. I've done most of the recording they need anyway. I'm not sure what I'm going to do after this week, but I'll figure it out in Atlanta._

_Producing my own music is really, really awesome, but it's not worth giving up my shot with Chloe._

_I think I made a mistake when I ran after she kissed me. I've always been okay with doing my own thing, but now that I've met Chloe being alone just feels like missing her. I don't know if she's going to give me another chance, but I have to try._

_Donald will give me a lift to the airport._

_Beca_

"Oh my God," Chloe breathed finally.

"I know!" Jesse's eyes were wide.

"You don't know what time she wrote this right?" Chloe jumped up from the floor as Jesse shook his head. "So she might not have left yet! We need to get to the airport right now!"

"Right." Jesse nodded quickly, slapping his pockets frantically to find his phone, "I'll ring Beca."

"You _can't_ ring her, she's lost her phone."

"Shit, you're right!" Jesse panicked.

"What about this Donald guy?" Chloe asked. "Could you ring him?"

"Right! Yeah he's our driver, he'll be able to tell us how long ago she left."

While Jesse tried to unlock his phone as fast as possible and subsequently typed in the wrong passcode several times, Chloe hurried across the room to pick up her bags.

A loud burst of noise caused her to jump in fright again as her phone's ringtone blared suddenly. She pulled it from her pocket quickly and saw it was Aubrey calling, and so swiped to answer it.

"Aubrey? What's up? I can't talk for long I've got to-"

"Chloe?" The voice on the other end of the line interrupted.

"Beca?!"


	12. Chapter 12

The moment the plane touched down, Beca’s nerves kicked in. Not that she wasn’t nervous the whole time she’d been packing, ringing Donald or even the plane ride over. It was just the finality of it all. She was here, in Atlanta and there was no backing out. For the first time in her life she was going to lay her heart on the line and let someone else decide what happened to it. No more running. 

Swarms of people hurried back and forth outside the airport, car headlights beginning to flicker on in the evening dusk. She pushed her way through the horde to the taxi rank and gave a driver the directions to the apartment she knew by heart. 

When they arrived Beca handed over the fare wordlessly, fighting down nausea at the sight of the Chloe’s building. 

“I’ve got places to be, girl,” The driver prompted, when Beca made no move to open her door. 

“Right, sorry.” Beca grabbed her backpack and clambered out, standing on wobbly legs. 

When she made it to their floor she saw light spilling from under their door, which was a good sign. It would have been a bit awkward if they were out grocery shopping or something and she had to sit out front until they returned. 

She ran a hand through her hair as she approached the door, wishing she had a mirror to check her reflection. Chloe carried a mirror like that, a small one that flipped open, rose gold on one side, ladybug print on the other.

 _God, Chloe._

Beca raised her hand and rapped her knuckles against the door, heart pounding in her chest.

The door swung open, revealing someone a little too tall and a lot too blonde. 

“You’re not Chloe.”

“Beca?!” 

This reply, instead of something like ‘Nice observation dumbass’, was Beca’s first tip-off that something was wrong. The second was that Aubrey was staring at her like she was looking at a ghost, rather than her missing employee. 

“Um,” There was a long pause as Beca tried to remember the lines she’d practiced all way the here in the taxi, but she was more than slightly perturbed by the way Aubrey was still starting at her in silence, and her panic seemed to be contagious. She wiped her sweaty palms on the outside of her jeans and blurted out the first words that popped into her head. “Chloe? I’m here to-”

“She’s not here!” Aubrey practically screeched, cutting Beca off mid-sentence. “Oh my God, she’s not here. 

“Oh.” Beca paused. “Is she at the grocery store?”

“What?” Aubrey looked bemused. “No, she’s- oh God, oh God.”

“What’s wrong?” Beca was getting really worried now, dread settling in her stomach. She hadn’t spoken to Chloe since their phone call a few days ago. Had something happened to her? “Where is she?” 

“She’s,” Aubrey paused to take a deep breath, “she’s in LA.”

Beca’s pounding heart stopped. Everything stopped.

“LA?” She choked. 

Aubrey looked genuinely upset now, wringing her hands desperately. 

“She went to find you.”

“Me?” Beca repeated dumbly. 

“She wanted to apologise and talk to you properly in person.”

“When did she leave?” 

“Just this morning. She feels so terrible about what happened, but honestly it was my fault.” Beca raised her eyebrow at that, but Aubrey barrelled on. “She really, really cares about you Beca. It was me that thought that seeing her with someone else might-” She waved her hands in Beca’s general direction. “Awaken your feelings.”

“My feelings were awake.” Beca frowned.

Aubrey flushed. “Yes, well, I realise that now.”

Beca sighed and checked her watch. 

“What are you going to do now?” Aubrey asked. “Did you want to use my phone to call her?”

“No,” Beca replied, distracted by the plan that was already forming in her mind. She swung her backpack onto her shoulders. “No, it’s okay. I’ll go back.” 

Aubrey stared at her. “Back? Right now?”

“Would you prefer I stopped here for dinner and a chat?”

“No, I just-” Aubrey trailed off, and when she didn’t say anything more Beca turned and headed back down the hall, feeling precious seconds tick away. 

“I’ll see you Aubrey.”

“Beca wait!” Aubrey called out to her retreating figure. 

Beca stopped and wheeled around, before slowly walking back towards Aubrey who stood in the doorway, wringing her hands. 

“Look, I know I’ve been hard on you, okay?” Beca’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the almost-apology as Aubrey continued. “I know I’ve been hard on everyone, but especially you. Not just with your music, but with you and Chloe. I just- she’s my best friend, and I didn’t want you to hurt her, yet somehow I was the one who ended up hurting you. So I guess what I’m saying is, I don’t know how you do it, ‘cause you’re one of the least cheerful people I’ve ever met, but you do make her really, really happy. And with you coming here tonight, I can see how much she means to you. I judged you unfairly, and way too quickly.” She took a breath as Beca stared back at her in stunned silence. “I’m truly sorry.”

“Wow, Aubrey, I don’t know what to say,” Beca said. Aubrey offered her a small smile and Beca grinned widely back. “This is a serious bonding moment, I feel like we should hug or something.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “Don’t push your luck. Now get out of here, and I don’t want to see you back until you’ve got Chloe with you.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Beca chirped, and gave Aubrey a cheeky salute as she ran off back down the hallway. 

Less than two minutes later she was back and Aubrey opened the door wearing the same bemused expression as before, as well as a complicated looking headphone and microphone contraption on her head. 

“That was quick,” Aubrey quipped, eyebrows raised in question.

“So was _that_ ,” Beca fired back, frowning at Aubrey’s headset. “What are you doing?”

“Chloe doesn’t approve of the amount of violence involved in some of my stress relieving techniques,” Aubrey replied, waving the controller in her hand as way of further explanation. “I’m making the most of having the house to myself. Anyway, what are _you_ doing?”

“Well it turns out my taxi has left, and I have no phone to call him back so…”

Aubrey rolled her eyes but retreated quickly into the apartment and reappeared only a few seconds later sans headset and with her car keys clenched in her palm. 

“Let’s do this.”

 

“I never usually drive like this, just so you know.”

“That would probably be of more reassurance to me if I was in your car at any other time then,” Beca replied through gritted teeth, as she gripped the handle above the passenger side window for dear life while they shot through another roundabout, forcing the car on their left to slam on the brakes.

The lights in front of them changed to amber and Aubrey threw her foot down and yanked so hard on the steering wheel that the right side of the car nearly left the ground as they flew around the corner.

“Jesus Christ,” Beca muttered. “Dude why are you _smiling?_ ” 

“I don’t know! It doesn’t seem like it, but I’m actually a very highly strung person, and sometimes it feels good to let it all go like this.” They swerved to the left to avoid a pedestrian who stepped out onto a pedestrian crossing, only to scramble backwards when they realised the speeding Volkswagen wasn’t stopping.

“Actually, it does seem like that, cause most of the time you’re barely holding it together.”

Aubrey’s mouth pressed into a hard line and she chucked her phone over onto Beca’s lap. 

“Make yourself useful and call Chloe to find out where she is. Her flight landed over an hour  
ago.”

Beca pulled the phone from her lap and brought up Aubrey’s contact list. Chloe’s name was right there at the top, a star beside her number declaring her a ‘favourite’. Clicking on her name brought up a picture of her with her arm flung around Aubrey, her smile wide and eyes shining. 

Beca stared at it for a moment, her thumb hovering over the call button. Her lungs felt tight in her chest. 

“Time is of the essence here Beca!” Aubrey snapped, not taking her eyes from the road. 

Tentatively, Beca pressed her thumb to the call button, bringing it to her ear as it began to ring. 

“Aubrey? What’s up? I can’t talk for long I’ve got to-”

“Chloe?”

She heard Chloe gasp. 

“Beca?”

“It’s me,” Beca said softly. 

“Oh my God, Beca! What’s happening, are you ok?” Chloe’s words tumbled over each other. “Have you already left? We were going to call you but of course you don’t have your phone anymore and so we were about to try Donald because we didn’t know how long you’d been gone or when you left the note or-”

“-note?” 

“The note you left for Jesse!” Chloe exclaimed. 

“Oh. Oh!” Beca’s eyes widened as comprehension dawned. “Oh wow. So you’re-”

“At his place. At first we thought you must be out, so I was waiting for you to get home. Where are you?”

Beca cringed as she pondered the best way to break the news. 

“I’m, um… in Aubrey’s car.”

There was a long pause. Aubrey glanced sidelong at Beca and waved a hand as if to say, ‘what’s happening?’

Beca shrugged back helplessly. Would Chloe be mad? She would have had to take time off work, and then there was all that money she would have spent on a ticket, only for them to totally miss each other. She was just about to ask Chloe if she was still there, when she heard a giggle.

“Are you-” Beca started, but Chloe was properly laughing now, and the sound filled Beca’s chest and spilled out her own mouth until they were both in hysterics. She pressed a hand to the dashboard in front of her to keep from doubling over with laughter, and caught a glance of Aubrey looking positively mystified in the driver’s seat.

“Wow,” Chloe managed finally, and that set Beca off again. “We really stuffed up huh?”

Beca wiped a tear off her cheek, lightheaded and grinning. 

“It’s possible we need to work on our communication.”

Aubrey snorted.

“Aubrey agrees,” Beca continued, and Chloe laughed again, loud and delighted. “God I miss you.”

Beca froze for a moment as soon as the admission slipped out, but Chloe didn’t miss a beat.

“I miss you too Becs.” Chloe fell quiet again. “What are we-”

“I’m coming back.” Beca jumped in. “Will you be okay to stay at Jesse’s? You can have my room.”

“You’re coming back?” Chloe echoed. 

“Right now. I mean, I’m not on the plane obviously, but we’re on the way to the airport right now. I’m going get on the first flight I can and I’ll be there tonight, or early tomorrow morning.”

“Aubrey’s driving you?” Chloe sounded impressed. “She must have finally come around; she likes you.”

Beca scoffed. 

“I don’t know if I would call this driving so much as ‘trying to kill me’. I’m pretty sure they jail you for life for driving this fast. We’ve run like four red lights.”

“Aubrey’s speeding? Wow, she _really_ likes you.”

“Yeah well.” Beca scuffed the toe of her shoe at the carpet under her feet. “Too bad for her, I’ve got my eye on someone else.”

“Yeah?” Chloe’s voice was higher than usual. 

“Yeah.” 

Aubrey took a left and they turned into the airport.

“We’re nearly here,” Beca said. “I better go.”

“Can you get Aubrey to text me your flight details? “Chloe asked. “So I know what time you’ll land.”

“Yeah of course, I will.”

“Thanks.” Beca could hear someone talking in the background. “Jesse’s asking what’s happening, I better fill him in.” 

“Okay.”

“Yeah.”

Beca hesitated. She didn’t want to hang up, even as Aubrey pulled into a park. 

“Can’t wait to see you,” Chloe said softly. 

“Me either. See you, I mean, not me. Ugh.” Chloe laughed and Beca glanced up briefly to find Aubrey much closer than expected, not exactly interrupting, but glaring at her expectantly. “I really should probably go, so I can you know…do that.”

“Probably.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“I swear-” Aubrey started.

“Okay! I’m going to hang up now, Aubrey’s scaring me.”

“Okay Becs. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, see ya. See you soon. Bye. Bye-”

Aubrey pinched the phone from her hand and ended the call. 

“Hey!” Beca pouted. “I was just about to do that!” 

 

The flight back to LA was quiet. Midnight ticked over not long after the plane reached its cruising height, and the flight attendants talked in murmurs as most of the passengers slept. Beca was quiet too, no laptop, no music, just the steady whir of the engine as she gazed out the window at the twinkling lights of the city until they disappeared. 

She wasn’t nervous anymore, not like she was when she’d left Jesse’s apartment in a flurry of anxiety and half-baked plans. This morning she hadn’t known how Chloe would react to Beca turning up unannounced on her doorstep. She’d worried she might have already missed her chance. 

Chloe had assured her over the phone that the kiss with the boy at Bellas was nothing but a mistake, a poorly thought-out crack at grabbing Beca’s attention, and that she had feelings only for Beca. But Chloe saying that, and her ditching work and flying halfway across the country to apologise and try to rectify her actions were two very different things. 

The fact that Chloe truly cared about her, enough to chase after Beca even after she proved herself an absolute basketcase by disappearing off to LA without a word, set Beca at ease. They had something, Chloe and her. She just needed the courage to turn it into something real. 

A flight attendant came by to offer her a drink and she declined, continuing to sit quietly, wishing once again she had a mirror, or even her phone so she could check her reflection and the state of her day-old makeup. 

Eventually the man sitting next to her woke up long enough to head off to the bathroom, and she took advantage of the empty seat to follow him into the aisle and slip into an empty bathroom herself. 

She redid her hair as best she could, and examined her face in the mirror. Her makeup wasn’t too bad really, the eyeliner a little smudged maybe, but she wet her hands with water from the tap and fixed it as best she could. It would have to do. She studied herself in the mirror for another few minutes until she straightened suddenly and flicked water over her reflection. She was being ridiculous. It wasn’t like Chloe hadn’t already seen her all sweaty and exhausted every time they finished work. 

Maybe she wasn’t as at ease as she thought she was. 

Eventually someone knocked on the door and Beca returned to her seat, this time pulling on her headphones and letting her ipod play away the rest of the flight. 

 

The gates were deserted, the domestic terminals closed for the night. Beca took her time, trailing behind the rest of the passengers on their way to the exit, passing empty cafes and silent security guards. Most people stopped at the baggage carousel but she kept walking, down the stairs and past the security gates, until she reached the foyer, huge and mostly deserted. 

Through the fogged glass walls she saw a few taxis idling outside, and she headed toward the sliding doors, until something caught her eye. A shock of red. 

Chloe was curled up across two seats, fast asleep. 

Warmth spread from Beca’s chest and through her body as she stood for a second just to look. 

Chloe’s face was pressed into the back of the seat, her legs tucked up under her and her hair loose and splayed over everything; her back, her shoulders, the chair. She shifted slightly in her seat and the ladybug charm on her wrist glinted under the dim ceiling lights. 

Beca approached her and lightly shook her shoulder, speaking quietly into her ear.

“Sorry ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to move along.”

“What?” Chloe murmured, shifting and achieving nothing other than smooshing her face further into the fabric of the chair. “No, I told you, I’m waiting for someone.”

Beca laughed, and Chloe’s eyes snapped open at the sound. She rolled over so fast that Beca had to grab her arms at the last second to keep her from toppling to the ground. 

“Beca?” Chloe gasped, eyes bleary. 

“The one and only.” Beca tugged at her wrist band self-consciously as Chloe’s eyes raked over her while she struggled upright. “I can’t believe you were sleeping here; I thought you would be at Jesse’s.”

Chloe shook her head and stood, her hands latching onto Beca’s upper arms. 

“I couldn’t wait. Some security guard kept trying to make me leave but…”

“You’re very persistent.” Beca finished with a smile. “So I’ve learnt.”

Chloe smiled back and held her gaze for a half a second before pulling Beca into a tight hug. Beca let out a heavy breath and her entire body relaxed as she rested her head on Chloe’s shoulder. 

“You came back for me,” Chloe murmured, her voice muffled against Beca’s hair.

“Twice, actually.” Beca said. Chloe pressed a kiss to the side of her head and pulled back slightly, her hands moving up to cup Beca’s jaw, her thumbs dusting over her cheekbones. “I’d come for you every time.”

Chloe’s eyebrows jumped into her hair and Beca’s face turned beet red as she realised what she’d said.

“That is not what I- Oh I’m so bad at this.” Beca groaned. “See this is why I had a whole speech and everything, to avoid this exact scenario.”

“You had a speech?” Chloe looked thrilled.

“Well not a _speech_ speech,” Beca said. “I just practiced a few things I might say. Because otherwise my brain turns to mush and… _that_ happens.”

“Can I hear it?” Chloe asked.

“Hear it?”

“Your speech. Can you say it to me now?”

Beca considered that for a moment. 

“Just some of it,” Chloe wheedled. 

Beca’s first instinct was to say no; there was no longer any need to subject herself to that particular type of humiliation, not when Chloe was here in her arms, so close Beca could smell her strawberry shampoo. (And seriously, who the hell smelled like strawberries after a day spent at the airport?) But Chloe’s hands had moved to the back of Beca’s neck and her nails were scratching lightly along the base of her hairline, and in that moment Beca would have agreed to just about anything that Chloe suggested. 

“I just wanted to explain,” Beca started cautiously, Chloe holding her gaze. “That I always found the idea of just willingly opening your heart to someone, giving them that kind of power, total crazy.” She paused, and Chloe gave her a little nod, urging her on. “But it turns out that when it comes to you, there is no running from it. There was no choosing whether or not I was going to protect myself. It didn’t matter whether I face to face with you like this, or if I was all the way in LA while you were in Atlanta, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

The corners of Chloe’s eyes crinkled as she smiled, leaning closer.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Beca said, and grinned cheekily. “It was kind of annoying really; I couldn’t get anything done. I’d be trying to work at the studio and bam, I’m thinking about kissing you.”

Chloe moved closer still, her eyes flicking down and then back to Beca’s eyes. 

“You think about kissing me?”

“All the time. It’s exhausting.”

Chloe’s smile grew, but her voice was low. 

“Are you thinking about it now?”

Beca’s hands felt hot where they rested on Chloe’s hips, like they might burn right through her jeans.

“Are you?” 

“Always,” Chloe murmured, her breath ghosting over Beca’s lips.

Beca’s heart kicked in her chest. Chloe’s mouth was right there. 

“Maybe you should do something about it.”

“Only if you want to,” Chloe said.

“I do,” Beca promised, but Chloe had stopped leaning closer, leaving the barest of gaps between them, and Beca understood.

She shifted a hand to Chloe’s shoulder and stretched onto her toes. She saw Chloe’s eyelids flutter closed a moment before her own did, and she closed the remaining distance between them, kissing Chloe softly. 

Chloe sighed against her mouth, her hands light on Beca’s cheeks, her lips moving gently. Beca wrapped her arm around Chloe’s shoulders, pulling her closer until they were pressed together, connected everywhere. 

Chloe’s nose nudged at hers and Beca shifted with her, kissing her until her lips were somehow pressing against teeth.

“It’s really hard to kiss you when you’re smiling so much,” she said, breathing heavily as she pulled back slightly. 

“Sorry,” Chloe laughed, chasing her lips. “I’m just so happy.” 

Chloe’s tongue pressed into her mouth and Beca lost herself in the kiss, the entire world a million miles away. 

 

“Aubrey told me I can have another week off,” Beca said, as they strolled hand in hand across the parking lot. “Which means we should have a few days to ourselves after I finish work on the album.”

“You can show me all around the LA hotspots.” Chloe grinned. “You celebrity you.”

“ _Minor celebrity_ ,” Beca amended. 

“For now,” Chloe said, her voice light. “And after that we go back to Bellas together?”

Beca curled her fingers tighter around Chloe’s, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little epilogue coming in one week. (I'm making that deadline public cause otherwise I won't stick to it.)
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, and for all your lovely comments. 
> 
> Cheers :)


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